The One Month RAW Challenge

[Necia]

Thanks Kathy, will do.

[Sim]

Hi Everyone! Oh this is so exciting!!!!! Necia is finishing a 54 day cleanse next week! Elizabeth, you are going this alone and are determined and oh-so-smart to not let the naysayers get to you...absolutely wonderful! We are not crazy, we are not extremists..we are people who take our health seriously, don't want to do damage to our bodies, seek information and support from others and from correct scientific and medical information. I'm so proud to be a part of this Bulletin Board and this circle of friends, because that is exactly what we are. And Kathy....oh my Kathy!!!! Yes, come back and do the 30 day challenge with me, with us!!!!! I have so much to share with everyone because....fanfare here: I'm going to England to study with Karen Knowler!!!! Yes, it's all about Raw for me and I've decided that Raw Coaching is where I want to be. When I get back, I'm off to Living Light for Raw Culinary school. I'm so excited that I can hardly type all this!

So Necia had a question about wheatgrass and Sweets (Hi Sweets!) talked about what constitutes 100% raw...here's my personal take and you may or may not agree but here goes: for me, saying "100%" is limiting...it makes us feel that if we add maple syrup or miso or nutritional yeast or many other things that many raw enthusiasts use, you will feel that you're no longer 100% raw and you'll just chuck the whole concept. One doesn't have to suffer to be "all raw"...personally, I'll have a shot of wheatgrass added to a smoothie if it's available (like at Whole Foods where I don't have to juice it myself) but I dislike the taste so I don't force myself to have it unless I feel I have a need. I will add a drop of ms to my flaxseed coconut pancakes or some nutritional yeast to my pinenuts to make parmesan cheese for my salad because it makes life better, healthier and more exciting. It also adds nutrition and although not technically raw foodstuffs, they're not chemicals, either. We each need to find our own levels of what's acceptable on our journeys. I consider myself 100% raw because I eat no cooked food. Technically, I'm less than 100% raw because I eat the above foodstuffs but do I really want to fight with myself over a percentage label? And of course, there's the psychological edge: if I say I'm less than 100% raw, will it lead me to eat still other things that aren't raw? I won't play that game; for me, having no cooked food means I'm raw and whether it's 100, 99, 99.9, 90, whatever, I'm happy with my excellent state of health, the likes of which I'd never known before I cleansed and went raw.

Whew! I DO go on! Sorry!!!

And Necia..."Rawvolution" is but one of so many books! I actually got my start on green smoothies from Victoria Boutenko's "Ode to Green Smoothies" which you can google and which will give you many ideas for green smoothies.

I adore you all...you are ALL my heroes, ALL my inspiration, ALL my loving friends. Let's keep talking and visiting with each other!!

[mtmouse]

Okay, gang, I'm in!

I had an emotional breakthrough on Thursday afternoon which made a huge difference. I had dinner at a friend's Thursday night, then went back to all-raw Friday morning without a peep!

So now I'm in for the long haul. I'm hoping to do a fairly long cleanse soon after this 30-day challenge. Unfortunately, I have a possible family reunion somewhere in there and I don't yet know the dates. Soon, hopefully.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to be eating raw again, and thrilled to be on the challenge again.

Sweets, where are you? :)

And HOORAY Sim! I must admit I've never heard of Karen Knowler, so please enlighten me! (If we talked about her while I wasn't paying attention, just steer me in that direction.) But it sounds like you're really on your way, and I'm so thrilled for you! You rock!

[sadsak39]

Hi everyone I wanted to let you know that Trader Joe's has Raw Almonds at a very reasonable price. Might be a good time to stock up.
Sherry:):):)

[Sweets]

Sadsak - Im right there with you, I purchased both the almonds and the cashews and did a huge shopping spree the other day (picked up some of their raw almond butter too) and now I have a newfound appreciation for my neighborhood TJ's :)

mtmouse - I'm still here with you! After a minor set back on Thursday (i've learned to pack my own lunch from here on out) I've been raw for two days now and I feel great, no complaints whatsoever. My only concern is eating out, Im having lunch out tomorrow and Im hoping there will be a few raw food options! Im also slowly making my way through this entire thread and honestly it's helping me a lot, Ive been researching purchasing a Vitamix and found the manufacturer's selling refurbished ones for $250, should I jump on this deal or lurk around ebay a little longer?

Hi Sim! I love your perspective about being as 'raw' as you want to be - it isn't about quantifying it for anyone else but yourself which makes me feel so much more at ease! A few of my condiments (soy sauce, sesame seeds and tea have not been raw but I realize that as long as Im making strides in the right direction that's all that matters. Oh yes, congratulations on your new future as a raw coach - that's amazing news!

[mtmouse]

Sweets!

Glad you're here.

I bought my Vita-Mix refurbished directly from the company, too. So did Sim. And it was because of Sim that I asked (and received, albeit reluctantly) free shipping too! (Although my VM cost $350 and I also ordered the dry blade, so the total was $425, I think. If you were just paying $250 they might not want to give free shipping. But it doesn't hurt to ask!)

Anyway, as long as they give you the same 7-year warranty, I'd definitely jump for that! They may be lowering the price because they're coming out with a new model or something. But the old models still work just fine! If you get one on eBay you won't be getting the warranty, I presume.

[sopheetsa]

hey folks:

(I also got a refurb'd vita mix... but didn't realize i could get free shipping-- wow that's a cool tip mtmouse!:))

I know I'm preaching to the already converted... and you guys as always are helping to inspire me- but I wanted to share something anyway. I noticed an article on my boss's desk on Friday, it was about a class of toxins that come from cooking food called: advanced glycation end products (AGEs). The article was about research conducted at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine by Helen Vlassara, MD. The medical establishment is catching on! Basically the message is:

Food Preparation May Play A Big Role In Chronic Disease

http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/04/070424155559.jpg
How your food is cooked may be as important to your health as the food itself. Researchers now know more about a new class of toxins that might soon become as important a risk factor for heart disease and metabolic disorders as trans fats.

"AGEs" are absorbed into the body through the consumption of grilled, fried, or broiled animal products, such as meats and cheeses. AGEs, which are also produced when food products are sterilized and pasteurized, have been linked to inflammation, insulin resistance, diabetes, vascular and kidney disease, and Alzheimer's disease.This new study at Mount Sinai School of Medicine reveals that a major determinant of the blood levels of AGEs is the amount of AGEs in the diet, not dietary calories, sugar, or fat. The study was done in collaboration with, and supported by, the National Institute on Aging (NIA).

"Consuming high amounts of grilled, broiled, or fried food means consuming significant amounts of AGEs, and AGEs in excess are toxic. People should be given information about their AGE intake and be advised to consider their intake in the same way they would think about their trans fats and salt intake. They should be warned about their AGE levels the way they are about their cholesterol levels or cigarette smoking." says Helen Vlassara, MD, senior study author, Director of the Division of Experimental Diabetes and Aging.

"Excessive intake of fried, broiled, and grilled foods can overload the body's natural capacity to remove AGEs," Dr. Vlassara notes, "so they accumulate in our tissues, and take over the body's own built-in defenses, pushing them toward a state of inflammation. Over time, this can precipitate disease or early aging." Once AGEs enter the body, it becomes more difficult to get them out, especially as people age. Older people have a reduced capacity for removing AGEs from the body, the researchers explain, most likely because kidney function slows down as the body ages.

As Dr. Vlassara cautions, "although the accumulation of AGEs pose an immediate and significant health threat to the older adult population, they are also an invisible, lingering danger especially for younger people and this needs to be addressed. AGE levels should be shown on nutrition labels so everyone is aware of them when buying or preparing meals -- and our studies explain why."

A Simple Solution: Steam, Boil, Stew Despite the ubiquity of AGEs, Dr. Vlassara and her team offer simple, safe, and economic solutions that echo the recommendations given concerning trans fats--watch what you eat. New methods of cooking to reduce AGE intake, particularly steaming, boiling or making stews, can make a difference. "Keeping the heat down and maintaining the water content in food reduces AGE levels," Dr. Vlassara says. A 50 percent reduction in AGE intake could have a significant and positive impact on overall health and may even help extend one's lifespan, according to Dr. Vlassara. In other studies, the team has found that cutting AGE intake in half, but maintaining a diet comprised of the same calories and fat, increased the lifespan of animals when compared with animals fed their usual diet.
--
excerpted from ScienceDaily (Apr. 25, 2007)
---

These are yet more GOOD REASONS to be RAW! I am hoping to go "RAW" as much as I can after finishing my current cleanse. All the best to you all on your healing journey!

love,

Sophia

[mtmouse]

I made it through my first real challenge this morning. Although it didn't even feel like one! :)

I'd been up for a while and gone through mail and soaked in my hot tub and taken my shower, and then as always I asked DH what he wanted for breakfast. It came as a complete blindside to me when he said "pancakes".

Well, why I was blindsided I have no idea, since he said that last Sunday and the Sunday before, at least. And each of those two times I caved and decided to have pancakes with him.

This time, even though his request caught me unawares, my immediate reply was "fine for you; I won't be having any--I'm eating all raw now". I didn't even have to think. And I really didn't want the pancakes at all, even while they were cooking. The smell wasn't even very appealing.

So I'm happily coasting along here! Love it!

[mtmouse]

Last month when Meedis was talking about the Caribbean Wild Rice salad, I made it with sprouted wheat (because I didn't have time for rice) and really liked it. (I basically left out the coconut by mistake--I used one, but the measurements came out to my needing six!--but I normally don't eat coconut anyway, and it tasted delicious just that way, so I probably won't put it in again, though I may use some coconut flavoring just for fun.)

Anyway, last week I decided to try sprouting long grain brown rice for it (I also don't eat wild rice). I should have paid closer attention to when I began the sprouting process, because now I can't remember exactly, but I have to tell you--I think it's been well over a WEEK, possibly 10 days, that those little suckers have been in there! Right off the bat they all got kind of a white bump at one end, but that was all, and there seemed to be no change from day to day.

Two days ago, just as I was losing heart, I noticed that each grain had developed a tiny pointy birdbeak sticking out perpendicularly on the side. And now they are definitely sprouting! However, when I tasted one, it still tasted really chalky (as opposed to chewy like the wheat I sprouted last time), so I can tell I need to let them go longer. They don't smell bad or anything, so I'm just hanging in there and watching. I really hope they turn out, though, because I'm really ready for that salad!

One thing I noticed upon rereading the recipe was that they were supposed to be soaked at the beginning for 36 to 48 hours. Having not read that at the time :), I soaked mine 24 hours, which is longer than I usually soak things. But given that rice is usually grown underwater, that omission could certainly have made a difference. Also, the room where I have them is quite cool--maybe 50 degrees--also a lot colder than rice is used to. I presume both factors contributed to the slowness of the sprouting process.

But if/when it ever works, I'll let you know how the salad turned out! :D

[sadsak39]

Sweets- I just bought a refurbished for $349 plus an extra $80 for the dry blade, so I agree you should Jump on it! I can't believe the price- I searched for a full year before I purchased, and $349 was the lowest I found! Guess I should have looked harder.:o:o:o

[Sweets]

Looks like the reconditioned vitamix is selling for $349 and not $250, an oversight on my part! After all the hours researching numerous avenues the numbers got jumbled in my head, sorry! Its strange but I'm obsessed with reading/researching these blogs about raw food - there's so much good info here! Good job mtmouse on passing up the pancakes, I dont know think I'd be able to resist them if I were in your shoes. . I attended a potluck style lunch today and reminded last minute (extremely last minute) to bring dessert so I rushed over to pick up cream puffs and had zero desire to have one! As for the rest of the food there, well that's a different story, it all looked delicious but I stuck with salad (luckily I ate a little at home beforehand).

I was wondering how to plan out meals ahead of time, I've found that I'm making trips to pick up groceries nearly everyday is a bit cumbersome but I do realize that it's still early and I need to get a feel of how much to purchase, etc..

[mtmouse]

I was wondering how to plan out meals ahead of time, I've found that I'm making trips to pick up groceries nearly everyday is a bit cumbersome but I do realize that it's still early and I need to get a feel of how much to purchase, etc..

Hi Sweets,

Sounds like you're off to a good start anyway. Both Cohen's and Cornbleet's books give sample menus and grocery lists for eating raw, so I can really recommend them. It's a little daunting at first, but eventually you do kind of get into a groove.

For me, the biggest challenge is thinking far enough in advance that I can sprout or dehydrate something. But having the Vita-Mix really makes a difference, because with that you can whip up yummy stuff on the spot.

Of course, the very easiest way to eat raw is to just not prepare anything! Eat the fruits and veggies and nuts just as they come and don't worry about getting fancy. Generally we hit that stage a little later in the process, though: for most of us, when we first go raw, we want more complicated recipes that resemble the food we were used to eating.

So it'll take you some time, but at least you can enjoy eating while you're learning!

:)

[Sim]

Hi Sweets,

Generally we hit that stage a little later in the process, though: for most of us, when we first go raw, we want more complicated recipes that resemble the food we were used to eating.

So it'll take you some time, but at least you can enjoy eating while you're learning!

:)

Kath, I want to know how you got so smart!!!:D
And I want to tell you how much I love you for re-starting.
And I want to tell you how brave you are. Pancakes! Sheesh!
Oh, why is this food thing so hard to deal with? Why do we love it so much? I'm so glad I'm now raw, yet as Sweets and Sherry, and all of us have discovered, all food prep puts us in a mindset, whether Raw or not. I still cook everything for my family and i have to think, 'What am I making for dinner? How much time do I have? What can I whip up?" And then there's my own dinner, which becomes less and less complicated as time goes on. As you said, Kath...I dehydrate less, do fancy recipes less and less, only because I don't need them much anymore, except maybe once or twice per week. I made Alissa's Cannelloni (from her new restaurant, Grezzo in Boston), which were out of this world and looked gorgeous on the plate...but I cut her recipe to a THIRD and still had enough for two dinners, which I shared with my family! It takes some learning to do this raw thing efficiently. Nuts cost a lot of money. Organic costs a lot too. And the things we eat are expensive over here on the east coast...but I'm learning that I need far less food than I ever thought possible and it's not because I don't love to eat! That cannelloni was just too rich and filling to eat too much of it. I'll post the recipe and you can try it.

At any rate, you are all so amazing to me. The VitaMix, at a good price, without paying shipping, the ability to forego creampuffs and pancakes, the patience in sprouting wild rice...all things we need to learn how to do and need to reinforce...mental muscle. I've just re-started my running and weight-lifting regimens, after a long hiatus. It's all a part of who we are and how we want to live. We may veer at times, take breaks, experiment...but ultimately, we've decided to be healthier and our journeys will all be different but, oh, it's so good to share, commiserate, congratulate, and bask in the friendship of everyone who is like minded and like hearted.

Sophie~ Thanks for that article on AGEs! Oh yes...another good reason to be raw!

And Mtmouse (and everyone else too!): here's my new favorite breakfast from Ani Phyo; although it's called "pancakes", it's anything but...but the sweet-salty-a little bit coconutty taste (something I usually avoid too but have learned to love in this recipe) of the patty with---omigosh, not officially raw because of the miso but oh-so-good--coconut miso butter(!) is so good and healthful and promotes *excellent* elimination :D that I halve the recipe and eat it for three days for breakfast! Again, very filling, very rich in taste, and no need to overdo. I add some walnuts, too, and oh! what a treat...who needs cooked pancakes when you can have this with maybe a *drop* of ms on top? Love you all and think of you all as my best friends. Much love, kids.:)

GREZZO ZUCCHINI CANNELLONI
For the cannelloni:
3 zucchini
1 c. pine nuts
1 c. macadamia nuts
1 c. walnuts
1 c. fresh parsley
8 t. lemon juice
6 t. nama shoyu (raw, organic, unpasteurized soy sauce)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
For the fettuccine sauce:
1 c. cashews
1 c. pine nuts
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 c. water
1/2t. black pepper
1 t. Himalayan or Celtic sea salt
For garnish:
Fresh basil leaves
Dehydrated onions
Dehydrated tomatoes
Prepare the canelloni: Peel the skin off of the zucchinis with a vegetable peeler. Hollow out the insides of each zucchini with a paring knife or apple corer to create three thin shells. Grind the pine nuts, macadamia nuts and walnuts in a food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until creamy.
Prepare the sauce: Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth and creamy.
To assemble: Gently stuff the zucchini shells with the “cheese” filling. Place the stuffed zucchini shells upright on a plate. Pour fettuccine sauce over the top of the stuffed shells. Garnish with fresh basil leaves, dehydrated onions and dehydrated tomatoes. Serves 3.
GREZZO CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE
For the base:
1 c. walnuts
1 c. pecans
1 c. dates, pitted
1/4 c. raw cacao powder
For the topping:
1/2 c. cacao powder
1/4 c. coconut oil
1/4 c. agave nectar
Prepare the base: Grind walnuts and pecans in a food processor until fine. Add the dates and cacao powder and blend until smooth and chocolatey. Remove from the food processor and, with your hands, form into four squares.
To assemble: Mix topping ingredients by hand in a small bowl. When smooth, pour the sauce on top of the base.
Refrigerate the cakes until firm.
Serves 4.


Coconut Breakfast Cakes from Ani Phyo

2 cups whole flax seeds or 3 cups flax seed meal
2 tablespoons liquid coconut oil
½ cup agave (or maple, but maple makes for a very strong flavor!)
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup water

Put everything in a large bowl and mix well.
Form four balls and flatten into a pancake shape, about ¼ to ½ inch thick.
(I think it would be dynamite, for presentation purposes, to use a cookie mold or
cookie cutters to form shapes from the mixture….the heck with round pancake circles!)

To serve, top with sliced fruit, like banana, and/or chopped walnuts or almonds.
Drizzle with maple syrup, if you like, or a pat of my new fave “butter,” recipe follows:


Coconut Butter
¼ cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon white miso

Mix together well. If you start with liquid coco oil,
it will have to cool to solidify, or at least get to a pasty, spreadable consistency.

Seriously, the sweet, salty taste knocks me out and is so satisfying.
Let me know if you enjoy this!

[mtmouse]

Okay, Sim,

Now you're getting me going again! I know what pancakes I'll have for next Sunday's breakfast! :)

But for now--I'm going skiing! :D:D:D:D

[Sim]

Go Kathy GO!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I could ski, but that would require real snow!
Happy X-Countrying, dearest...I'm green with envy, not smoothies!

[mtmouse]

Thanks, Sim!

I did go, and the snow was terrific and the day warm. It was kind of socked in and even still snowing a bit, so not as beautiful as some days I go, but it was still a great pleasure to wind in and out of the trees, up and down the hills, in deep soft powder snow. So it was indeed lovely. I worked up quite a sweat and definitely felt good afterwards!

And after a spate of warm weather lately, now they're predicting several storms coming through here in the next couple of weeks. My schedule has opened up for the first time since the start of the year, so I hope to keep taking advantage of this end-of-the-season windfall!

When do you go to England? I hope you saved a seat for Res too! She'll be green--and not with smoothies, either! :D

[Sim]

When do you go to England? I hope you saved a seat for Res too! She'll be green--and not with smoothies, either! :D

Just found out I'm going in two weeks, March 9-16! I'm so excited I can hardly sit still!!!!

Your skiing sound so, so fulfillling and contenting Wonderful. Good for you...I need to talk to you, my girl...I'm calling, whether you like it or not:D

[sadsak39]

To Any Experienced Sprouter- I've never sprouted before, and I want to learn for these recipes. Any help would be much appreciated. Do I need to purchase any special equipment? Can any seed, nut ,grain be sprouted? How do I keep what I'm sprouting from getting rancid? Since this will be my first time, step- by- step instructions will be most appreciated.
Thanks Much,
Sherry:):):)

[fxyMNgrl]

Hey everyone, I've decided to come off my cleanse a little early (Completed 16 days, original goal was 25, but I felt my body was telling me to come off) and so I will be joining the raw challenge sooner than I expected!

I have heard that raw foods will continue to detox the body as well :)

Anyway I've stocked up on organic oranges for a couple days of juice, and I scoured the town I live in for other raw goodies. Turns out there's a healthfood store I've never heard of, and they have a LOT of cool things! Like raw salad dressing, raw nuts and seeds and grains, nama shoyu, raw olive oil, etc the list goes on! So I was pretty excited about that, I thought I'd have to get some of those things online.

I don't have a whole heck of a lot of money to buy a blender and dehydrator right now, so i'll have to do without until tax return time (and the lovely bit of extra money we are all getting!). I am really looking forward to a raw lifestyle and my plans are to stick with it for more than 30 days!

But we've all got to start somewhere right?

I'm looking forward to all those juicy fresh fruits and vegetables. . . .yummy! I also bought the book "Living on Live Food" by Alissa Cohen because I thought it'd be a good help with getting started! :)

Anyway I'll stop by often, if not daily.

[fxyMNgrl]

To Any Experienced Sprouter- I've never sprouted before, and I want to learn for these recipes. Any help would be much appreciated. Do I need to purchase any special equipment? Can any seed, nut ,grain be sprouted? How do I keep what I'm sprouting from getting rancid? Since this will be my first time, step- by- step instructions will be most appreciated.
Thanks Much,
Sherry:):):)


I found this really neat website with lots of info about sprouting on it~

http://www.sproutpeople.com/index.html

Hope this helps some! I am going to get started in sprouting as well, it looks like fun!

[mtmouse]

Welcome!

If you haven't already done so, read through this thread from the beginning. It won't take as long as it seems, and you'll get a wealth of information.

Hope you stop in often!

[Sweets]

SIM - those pancakes sound absolutely delicious, definitely a must try, just need to pick up some coconut oil soon. Im definitely enjoying this raw lifestyle, eating a ton and still mysteriously still losing weight? It all doesn't add up but I'm really thriving on all this good food - no cravings for cooked foods whatsoever.

Welcome fxyMNgrl! I also recently ended the MC and turned to raw foods, Ive found it extremely satisfying and its nice not to be so restricted to just the lemonade mixture. There's a lot to learn but as mtmouse stated, this board is extremely helpful!

Hi mtmouse, good advice once again - I realize fresh fruits and veggies are so simple yet so satisfying. I'm lucky enough that my co-op has a huge raw section so I picked up raw crackers, sprouted garbanzo beans, lara bars, and a nice mixed veggie juice - this will keep the variation high even though I dont own any of the fancy machinery! I am planning to make hummus tomorrow, soaking the garbanzo beans as we speak (do I still need to soak if I purchased them already 'sprouted'?) and I have to admit sadsak39, sprouting IS confusing..the simplicity of the minimal amount of instruction leaves me with more questions - right now Im trying to figure out when the item is ready to eat (did I sprout long enough/too long?) Right now I'm doing it the old fashioned way and taste testing at various stages although my quinoa never reached a point where I thought it was ready to be eaten, was still very hard after a couple days of sprouting.

[rain]

Wow, I went away for half a week and now find there are PAGES of posts here to catch up on...great! :) I was lurking on the MC board for weeks (but not posting because I finished my MC last month) because that was where everyone was. Doing that really made me want to go back on the MC (and to do it for longer next time)! I'm so happy to see you guys here, talking raw. This is such a supportive community! :)

I've been all raw for a little over a month now (and plan to continue that for a long time). I've been spending too much time making raw goodies, but maybe that's unavoidable at the beginning. But I want to settle down to some favorite, familiar, quick recipes (ones that don't have a really high % of nuts). I've already collected a few of these, like banana flax crackers, cranberry scones (which I turned into pineapple scones), and marinated veggies. And, a few days ago, I made a wonderful, decadent chocolate avocado pudding!

I also need to get more exercise into my life: more consistent yoga, and I want to start running. THEN I imagine I'll feel amazing :D !

Sim: Wow, what an adventure you have planned for yourself with Karen Knowler and Raw Culinary school! I want to go too...but really, I'm fine just where I am, learning about raw here in my little kitchen. It sounds like I'm similar to you about the 100% raw thing. I consider myself to be 100% because, if I opened the door to any % of cooked food, I suspect that % would increase over time. I only feel motivated to stay raw if it's 100%. But I know the walnuts, cashews and cacao I'm eating may not be raw (as well as some other things). And I know I couldn't do this without nama shoyu, which isn't technically raw. Eating raw is a really steep learning curve, and there's only so much one can bite off at a time. Over time, maybe my cravings will change and I'll want to see how it feels to cut out the cashews, etc., as an experiment. But I'm happy with what I'm doing now, and that's all that matters.

[mtmouse]

Well, I had to pronounce my rice sprouting project a failure. I wanted to make Caribbean Wild Rice, but I didn't have any wild rice so I used long grain brown rice instead. I got it to sprout just fine (though it took an inordinately long time), but today when I tasted it I just didn't like it. It was still chalky-feeling even after all this time of sprouting, but mostly it just tasted bitter and nasty. So out it went.

Then I saw in Cohen's book that we should use *only* wild rice for sprouting. I wonder if that's what my problem was. Has anyone ever been successful in sprouting regular brown rice (I tried long grain, but there's also short grain and sweet grain)? I wonder where I could get information either way about that.

So today I'll go out and get some and start over! I suspect it'll take a lot less time than this attempt did. And hopefully come out better.

[rain]

Looks like the reconditioned vitamix is selling for $349 and not $250, an oversight on my part!

If it's a Vita Mix 4500 you're looking for, you can get a new one here for $315 (free shipping, no tax):

http://www.2-life.com/site/vita_mix_blenders.html

The List Price on that page is $359, but if you click on "Request Sale Price" and give your email address, they'll immediately email you the lower price. And you can ignore what they say about the sale ending tomorrow. I've been checking in there for some weeks now, and they keep saying the same thing, and the sale prices stay the same. :rolleyes: :D

I can't really afford a vitamix or a juicer, but I've been wanting both. I read on another raw food forum that the old oster blenders (from the 70s) are better than the new ones (excluding the vitamix, of course!) because the working parts are metal, not plastic. So I found a 70s-vintage oster for $6, bought a new sealing ring so it would stop leaking at the bottom, and it does do a pretty good job. It will make decent smoothies from kale if I let it run for 4-5 minutes. (I turn it off when I start to get any whiff of burning motor. :D)

So now I'm dreaming about getting a really good juicer for the summer. I'd like to do a long fast sometime around June-July, but can't afford to let all the greens in my garden go to waste. So I'd like to see what it would be like to do a 10-20 day MC followed by a juice fast. (I hope juice fasting isn't a hungrier fast than the MC!)

[Sim]

Hi Everyone~! Sorry I've been absent...I've been up to my ears in arrangements, paperwork, and yes! ASSIGNMENTS! Lots o' work to become a Raw food professional! I'm up for the challenge and it's because of you all and this board and this lifestyle...YAY!

Oh, everyone has been so busy! Those banana flax crackers in the recipe box sound scrumptious...today's project! And as for the VitaMix price, you're 100% right: there's really NOT a time limit. Just ask for a better price. Believe me, they want to sell these things. As for the juicer...hmmm....that's a bit trickier, Rain. I wonder how everyone else feels about this but honestly, I love my juicer, an Omega 5000 which I chose because it does greens as well as nut butters (the Champion doesn't do greens and wheatgrass) and the Green Power or Green Star, which are supposed to be terrific, are just too huge and have too many parts for me, but to tell you the truth, it's the piece of equipment that I use the least! I use a Breville Citrus Press (thanks to TeePee), cost: $150 and worth every penny! I use my Cuisinart 11 cup fp, and of course the VitaMix. My juicer is great but I've discovered that I like green smoothies from the VitaMix because it breaks my heart to have all the pulp from the juicer thrown away...and when I can't bring myself to throw it away, I have to actually make something with it, usually crackers, so that it doesn't go bad...and I don't always have the time. That's my juicer saga...anyone else want to chime in on that?

Mtmouse: wild rice only! As you've found out, other rices just don't work well 'cause they're not WILD. Like us :D

If the garbanzos are already sprouted, it means they've been soaked. No need to soak again...they'd go bad.
And when are sprouted things ready? Another trick question. The official answer is: when the tail is at least as long as the legume it came from. That's not always true. I sprouted quinoa and waited until the tail was long enough. They were spoiled. So the taste test is best. You can undersprout a little and all it will do is make it just a bit harder to digest but oversprouting causes spoilage...and waste. Sprouting really is easy and I don't have any equipment! I put whatever I'm sprouting in a bowl in water overnight. In the morning, I drain and then rinse them again and put whatever it is in a large glass jar. I put a piece of mesh screening over the top of the jar, secured with a rubber band (so high tech of me!) and turn the jar to a 45 degree or more angle so that whatever moisture is inside has a chance to drain out. (I keep a piece of paper towel under the mesh end). I've found that things sprout better in my pantry closet, which is dark and is warmer in winter than my kitchen counter, but you can leave the jar anywhere you wish! I then rinse twice a day and resecure that mesh and rubber band and in two or three days, it's all done. I've done radish seed, alfalfa seeds, wheat berries, quinoa, kamut, amaranth...you name it. I do not like garbanzos sprouted, and that's a shame because I've always loved chick peas cooked, but sprouted ones don't do good things to my body :eek: What a journey....different for each of us. Everyone seems to be having a lovely time with all of this and that's the best part! Explore, have fun...you'll find what works and what doesn't. For the better part of a year, and even still now, I've been searching for my "main staples"...I'll share: any kind of green smoothie in the morning or juice or whole fruit, especially mangos! My fave salad is kale, chopped really fine, with two or three other greens (spinach, parsley, romaine, chard), kalamata olives (just two), tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, avo, sea salt, olive oil, lemon juice. All kinds of nori roll-ups that always start with spinach or some other kind of leaf to keep the nori from getting soggy, a paté (Jen Cornbleet's Not Tuna, Nomi Shannon's Sunny Paté or Ginger Almond from Ani Phyo are all favorites) and then an array of veggie sticks: carrot, daikon, red pepper, mushrooms. A bunch of sprouts on top, roll it all up to make a nice fat roll, cut it into beautiful pieces, dip in some Nama Shoyu if you like and voilá. Some of my rolls don't even have a paté in them, just some unpasteurized miso paste! All of that takes about 5 minutes or less. Cauliflower couscous, Bok choy salad, onion bread (all from Matt Amsden), flaxseed crackers, banana cacao ice cream, and of course Medjool dates, my favorite "candy". Those are some of my staples. Of course there are other things, the pizzas, the pancakes, the butters, the cannelloni, the raw pastas, the soups, the scones, etc. Tons of stuff. Best main dish I ever prepared: Cherie Soria's Mushroom Goulash over Zucchini Noodles. Sorry! Didn't mean to go overboard on the info! Just sharing with you, my friends :o

One last thing: there is a gadget called the EZ Sprouter that seems to be a great thing. I don't have one...it only costs $8 but I've been lazy about ordering one...but it seems like a good idea. Sproutman or Sproutpeople sells it, I believe. If you get one, let me know how it works out!
Love you all....love what goes on here!:)

[KellyZ]

Wow, I went away for half a week and now find there are PAGES of posts here to catch up on...great! :) I was lurking on the MC board for weeks (but not posting because I finished my MC last month) because that was where everyone was. Doing that really made me want to go back on the MC (and to do it for longer next time)! I'm so happy to see you guys here, talking raw. This is such a supportive community! :)

I've been all raw for a little over a month now (and plan to continue that for a long time). I've been spending too much time making raw goodies, but maybe that's unavoidable at the beginning. But I want to settle down to some favorite, familiar, quick recipes (ones that don't have a really high % of nuts). I've already collected a few of these, like banana flax crackers, cranberry scones (which I turned into pineapple scones), and marinated veggies. And, a few days ago, I made a wonderful, decadent chocolate avocado pudding!



I also need to get more exercise into my life: more consistent yoga, and I want to start running. THEN I imagine I'll feel amazing :D !

Sim: Wow, what an adventure you have planned for yourself with Karen Knowler and Raw Culinary school! I want to go too...but really, I'm fine just where I am, learning about raw here in my little kitchen. It sounds like I'm similar to you about the 100% raw thing. I consider myself to be 100% because, if I opened the door to any % of cooked food, I suspect that % would increase over time. I only feel motivated to stay raw if it's 100%. But I know the walnuts, cashews and cacao I'm eating may not be raw (as well as some other things). And I know I couldn't do this without nama shoyu, which isn't technically raw. Eating raw is a really steep learning curve, and there's only so much one can bite off at a time. Over time, maybe my cravings will change and I'll want to see how it feels to cut out the cashews, etc., as an experiment. But I'm happy with what I'm doing now, and that's all that matters.

Hi. I live on Shepherd Island in Bocas del Toro, Panama. We have a cacao plantation. I was reading a post by SIM and wondering why you would think cacao is not raw. The fruit is fermented and dried in the sun. Does that make it no longer raw? It does probably change the composition as it turns it into what is known as bitter chocolate but it is very natural.

[mtmouse]

Yeah, anyone who has read this thread knows I no longer juice at all. Except to make cranberry scones! (I do have a Champion, and the scones need carrot pulp, so that's what I use it for now.)

Since going raw and getting my Vita-Mix I just can't bear to throw away all the fiber, and like Sim says, even when I try to use it, there's just too much. I so much prefer green smoothies!

So my suggestion to anyone who doesn't yet have gadgets would be to definitely save for the VM before any juicer.

JMHO! :)

[mtmouse]

Oh Sim,

As usual, you rock! Today as planned I had Ani Phyo's pancake recipe (complete with raw "butter"), and I didn't lust after DH's pancakes at all! Mine was delicious (one was plenty--they are so filling and satisfying!) -- and, in fact, I think it was even better than the regular recipe. You are absolutely right that the mix of sweet and salt does the trick!

The only thing I'd do differently next time is put the pancake in the dehydrator for a while ahead of time to warm up. The pancake tasted delicious right out of the VM, but the coconut oil in the butter congealed on top of it. Still tasted terrific, but wasn't as visually attractive as it might have been.

Now I have to ask: eating raw, what else would you put that butter on?

:)

[Heidi000]

Hello all,
:confused:
I am having a bit of an issue with fatigue right now, completed our 3rd cleanse in a year 17 Feb. On my days off I feel like sleeping....a lot. I am about 80% raw and even the 20% is oatmeal or brown rice and veggies, totally vegan. But I am T-I-R-E-D!Just sapped of energy. I do get it together for work, of course, but just come home and drop. My husband is back on chicken and veggies but careful about combining. (I never eat chicken and have not eaten red meat in over 30 years.) But I did eat some fish prior to this point. Hubby says I need to eat some protien, I say I am still in a state of detoxing, probably alcohol since that was the worst that I put in my body and now none in nearly 4 weeks. I just want my energy back. Oh, and my skin took a beating this last cleanse. Do I need more flax oil? Anyone out there have some advice about: 1) Protien, how should I get this back into my system and 2) healthy oil to brighten my skin? Oh, and should I be taking supplements? (I am taking probiotics, C, calcium and wheat grass tabs).

SIM, I am inspired about your taking the raw challenge to new levels. I found a place about an hour from home that has weekly raw uncook classes I am going to check out.

Anyway, thanks to all, again. So glad I found this site!;)
Heidi

[Sim]

Oh Sim,
Now I have to ask: eating raw, what else would you put that butter on?
:)

Kath~Oooh, that's such a good question! I suppose any kind of bread or SCONE would be a good place to put some...I do love the sweet/salty thing :) And I love the thought of putting the pancake in the BigE for a bit but I'm usually so hungry by the time I'm done mixing it up that waiting might be torture!:D But I"m gonna try....

KellyZ, you lucky girl! A cacao plantation!!! Yes, of course cacao can be raw! It was Rain who said that she was eating cashews, walnuts, and cacao that were not raw, not me. But not all cacao is raw; some is roasted. When reading the label on even very excellent cacao like Green & Black's, it might say "roasted cacao." Ooh, if I lived on a cacao plantation, I'd be eating up all the profits!

Heidi~ Yay, you're here! Fabulous that you're going to take some classes...and don't forget to check out raw food prep videos online, too. Cherie Soria, Karen Knowler, Ani Phyo among others, all have some nice videos to check out. As far as your protein goes, remind your husband that it's not really protein that our bodies need but the amino acids that the proteins break down into. You can get all those good amino acids from dark leafy greens like kale, collards, swiss chard, spinach...of course, nuts provide a great deal of protein but they also have a high fat content and should comprise the smallest part of your raw diet. You might be feeling a bit fatigued if this third cleanse in one year was a prolonged cleanse. I personally don't believe in supplements, except probiotics for at least one month after the cleanse, unless you've had your blood analyzed and there's an authentic deficiency. I was convinced that I needed calcium supplements because everyone, including my ob-gyn, told me that being of menopausal age, I needed to ensure that I was getting enough calcium. I had my blood analyzed and my calcium was off the charts! Good thing I hadn't taken any supplements. As for your skin, you might try taking some flaxseed oil, one teaspoon, in the morning. Can't hurt. :D Remember that your body will come back to itself when you resume your normal diet with its nutrients. Although the MC is fabulous and safe, it definitely does a number on one's body because detoxing is a strenuous business for our bodies to experience.

...so a friend took me out to lunch yesterday for my, yes well, you know...:D Anyway, it was a vegan restaurant and 1/3 of the menu was raw. Was it good? Yes and no. I came home and duplicated the appetizer we had, Ethiopian Peppers. It cost exactly 50 cents to make, $8 in the restaurant. Yikes. Three little pizzas, not nearly as delicious as the recipes we've posted here, cost $12. But the spectacular dish was the beet ravioli with pistachio pesto filling. Each one had a tiny purple edible flower on it and it was a gorgeous dish BUT it was not nearly as delicious in the mouth as it was beautiful for the eyes. $18. Sheesh. Dessert was a disaster: a lime mousse with coconut crust that tasted AWFUL. $12. Just wait until my restaurant opens...delicious food at an affordable price for ANYONE. How can we expect people to get healthy if all they can afford is McDonald's???

Can you all stand another food recommendation? I made Cherie Soria's stuffed mushrooms and Karen Knowler's marinated mushrooms, which I dehydrated, and both were out of this world. The recipes are on their websites but I'm posting them right here:

Stuffed Mushrooms with Pine Nuts and Herbs
Yield: 6 servings
24 large mushrooms, cleaned and stemmed
Marinade
3 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon tamari
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

Filling
3/4 cup pine nuts, soaked 1-2 hours and drained
1/4 cup minced parsley
1 tablespoon light miso
2 teaspoon minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon garlic, pureed (optional)

1. In a 7 by 7-inch glass baking dish, combine the oils, tamari, and lemon juice, and whisk to blend. Add the mushrooms, and marinate for at least one hour.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the pine nuts, parsley, miso, basil, and the optional garlic, and stir well.
3. Leaving the mushrooms in the same dish of marinade, fill them with the paté mixture, then place them the dish in a dehydrator set at 115 degrees for 2 to 3 hours before serving. Serve warm or cool.
4. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two days.

Karen Knowler's Marinated Mushrooms
White button mushrooms
Nama Shoyu
Olive oil

Simply slice the mushroom about ¼ inch thick. Put them in a bowl and
liberally sprinkle with olive oil and Nama Shoyu.
Leave for about one hour or so.
That's it! The intensity of the flavor depends on how much shoyu one uses.
You cannot really skimp on the olive oil.
For a real treat, spread the marinated mushrooms on a Teflex sheet and
dehydrate for two hours or so at 105º...these taste exactly like sauteed or
fried mushrooms.

[Sweets]

Yikes! RAW "Challenge" might be an understatement, although Im struggling with eating completely raw I've definitely come to terms with eating as raw as I can, sans a few slip ups but having this board to glance at definitely helps! Its amazing at how friendly and willing to help you all are...On another note, the site looks amazing revamped - initially I thought I was at the wrong site but was pleased to find this thread still intact and going strong =)

Im glad to hear the vita-mix is well worth it's price - I ordered a reconditioned one and can't wait to start adding some variety to my diet! On the same note, I havent had much luck the sprouting - both the garbanzos and the quinoa were not appetizing to me at all..think I'll stay away from sprouting for the time being.

[Heidi000]

Good Morning! Well, another day off of several naps and not much accomplished while hubby made trips to Home Depot and painted a door, washed floors, what a guy! I did go to the gym and did 30 minutes on the life cycle then left. Made a nice quinoa sprout salad with chopped spinach, cukes, tomatoes, spring onions and Kalamata olives over romaine. Then went to sleep outside by the pool. I am still having moments of grouchyness and obvious fatigue. Last night I opted for cooked Sambar with brown rice and it was good but I felt uncomfortable afterwards and didn't even eat that much. :o Hmmm.

Anyway, SIM-HAPPY BIRTHDAY! , I have been diagnozed with osteopenia, (pre-ostoperois), and take Fosomax after a long battle of trying not to with dark leafy greens and natural Calcium supp's. But the subsequent bone density test showed more bone loss and because this runs in my family I finally surrendered. I take extra C becuase I think it boosts my immunity system, which is kind of weak from lifelong asthma, which I take nothing for except healthy diet.

Anyone else about the fatigue thing? I was drinking probably two glasses of wine a day and more on my days off. Sometimes I wake up and my eyes feel swollen or bloodshot like detox is coming out that way. It's been almost 4 weeks since any wine, but who is counting :D, ! Today I am making more of the great cauliflower tabouli found here and Cornbleet's zucchini humous. I also love the untuna found here. I love raw and yet the need for brown rice and coooked veggies is still there sometimes. I work at a very nice restaurant and the food there does not tempt me except the seaweed salad and the mozz salad w/honey/balsamic vin w/o the cheese. I am eating tons of nuts and should back off, but the need for oil, especially for my skin, cries for moisture, very crepey looking after this last cleanse.

Regards, Heidi :p

I would love to get a vitamix but $300 right now seems ouch, along with a food dehydrator, more $$$. That's what I love about Cornbleets book, very little equipment required and her recipes are great! Oh, where does one find a reconditioned Vitamix?

[rain]

Hi. I live on Shepherd Island in Bocas del Toro, Panama. We have a cacao plantation. I was reading a post by SIM and wondering why you would think cacao is not raw. The fruit is fermented and dried in the sun. Does that make it no longer raw? It does probably change the composition as it turns it into what is known as bitter chocolate but it is very natural.

Hi Kelly: It was me who listed cacao as one of the things I'd heard might not be raw. I've only been eating raw for a few months, so I have alot to learn and not much experience to have a strong opinion about anything. (Hey, I don't even yet know the difference between cocoa and cacao, or if there even is a difference :) .) I was just going by what I'd heard on another raw forum (Alissa Cohen's), where there was some doubt about whether the cacao they'd been told was raw really was truely raw. Thank you for the information you've shared (that cacao must smell amazing as it dries in the sun!). I was happy when I smelled the first bag of raw cocoa I'd ordered, because it does smell more raw to me than what I'd been buying at my local health food store, and I'm not at all ready to give up chocolate (I think it's what's allowing me to stay raw right now!). :D

[rain]

As for the juicer...hmmm....that's a bit trickier, Rain. I wonder how everyone else feels about this but honestly, I love my juicer, an Omega 5000 which I chose because it does greens as well as nut butters (the Champion doesn't do greens and wheatgrass) and the Green Power or Green Star, which are supposed to be terrific, are just too huge and have too many parts for me, but to tell you the truth, it's the piece of equipment that I use the least! I use a Breville Citrus Press (thanks to TeePee), cost: $150 and worth every penny! I use my Cuisinart 11 cup fp, and of course the VitaMix. My juicer is great but I've discovered that I like green smoothies from the VitaMix because it breaks my heart to have all the pulp from the juicer thrown away...and when I can't bring myself to throw it away, I have to actually make something with it, usually crackers, so that it doesn't go bad...and I don't always have the time. That's my juicer saga...anyone else want to chime in on that?

For the better part of a year, and even still now, I've been searching for my "main staples"...I'll share: any kind of green smoothie in the morning or juice or whole fruit, especially mangos! My fave salad is kale, chopped really fine, with two or three other greens (spinach, parsley, romaine, chard), kalamata olives (just two), tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, avo, sea salt, olive oil, lemon juice. All kinds of nori roll-ups that always start with spinach or some other kind of leaf to keep the nori from getting soggy, a paté (Jen Cornbleet's Not Tuna, Nomi Shannon's Sunny Paté or Ginger Almond from Ani Phyo are all favorites) and then an array of veggie sticks: carrot, daikon, red pepper, mushrooms. A bunch of sprouts on top, roll it all up to make a nice fat roll, cut it into beautiful pieces, dip in some Nama Shoyu if you like and voilá. Some of my rolls don't even have a paté in them, just some unpasteurized miso paste! All of that takes about 5 minutes or less. Cauliflower couscous, Bok choy salad, onion bread (all from Matt Amsden), flaxseed crackers, banana cacao ice cream, and of course Medjool dates, my favorite "candy". Those are some of my staples. Of course there are other things, the pizzas, the pancakes, the butters, the cannelloni, the raw pastas, the soups, the scones, etc. Tons of stuff. Best main dish I ever prepared: Cherie Soria's Mushroom Goulash over Zucchini Noodles. Sorry! Didn't mean to go overboard on the info! Just sharing with you, my friends :o

Yeah, anyone who has read this thread knows I no longer juice at all. Except to make cranberry scones! (I do have a Champion, and the scones need carrot pulp, so that's what I use it for now.)

Since going raw and getting my Vita-Mix I just can't bear to throw away all the fiber, and like Sim says, even when I try to use it, there's just too much. I so much prefer green smoothies!

So my suggestion to anyone who doesn't yet have gadgets would be to definitely save for the VM before any juicer.

JMHO! :)

Thank you, Sim and Kathy, for sharing your juicing experience. It's very helpful :) . I hadn't thought it out completely, but I'd also find it painful to throw out all that good pulp. And I thought maybe my vintage blender would do indefinitely because my kale smoothies come out fairly smooth. But I won't even try putting things like celery or beets in my smoothies right now. And there are recipes I'd like to try that need a better blender. Does anyone use their Vitamix to make nut butters? If yes, does that seem like a strain on the machine? (I just watched someone on Youtube making nutbutter with his juicer.)

Deciding which blender to buy has been a confusing experience for me. I told someone who loves her KTec that I'd decided on a Vitamix (not knowing her preference), and she said she used to have a Vitamix and prefers the KTec because she doesn't have to waste the food she can't dig out of the bottom, plus it makes smoother smoothies (it has a 3 HP motor compared to the 2 HP Vitamix). But the KTec has a reputation for chewing up the sealing ring in the jar (mmm! rubber smoothies! :p ). So now I'm considering a commercial Vitamix (Vita-Prep 3) that costs $500 at rawguru because it has a 3 HP motor. (3 HP might make it easier to make nutbutters.) I think I'll go with either that or a regular Vitamix that has the variable speed dial. And occasionally i reconsider the KTec... :rolleyes: Sheesh, you'd think they'd be able to come up with a perfect blender, huh? I don't have alot of money but, if an extra $100 will get me a blender I'll be happier with in the long run, I'd rather stretch and find the money, because I feel so excited about and committed to raw, and I won't want to spend even more money on the better blender they may come up with a decade or so from now.

Sim, you definitely don't go overboard on the information. It's all very useful to me...thank you! Your list of staples reminds me that I want to make some more pates (I'll try your faves first), And that there was a simple, yummy one I made with walnuts last summer. And I've found the recipe you posted for the Mushroom Stroganoff with Zucchini Noodles. It looks delicious, and the noodles don't even need a spiralizer. I think I'll take that to the next raw food potluck i've just discovered in my city. I'm in love with bananas right now (a month ago, it was pineapple). Sweet fruit tastes so much sweeter to me now (even though I rarely ate sugar before, just rice malt and fruit juice concentrate.)

[mtmouse]

Rain,

I make nut butters all the time in my VM, and it's never overpowered the motor. (Also, the VM does have an automatic shutoff so you can't burn it out. I *have* triggered that a couple of times, but not with nuts!)

And IMO the amount "wasted" at the bottom is insignificant. Sometimes I do have to kind of fight for it, but frankly I'd much rather do that than risk a gasket getting torn up. I really like that it doesn't come apart, myself.

[mtmouse]

Sim,

I just now saw your response to my post yesterday! I don't know how it got by me earlier.

Butter on the scones does sound good. Now I'm having trouble with my butter, though. It says to make it with solid coconut oil, which I did (I didn't know it came both ways). But if I put that in the fridge, it goes so rock-hard that I have to leave it near the hearth for an hour before using it! And it doesn't blend very well with the miso, either. If there is coconut oil that's liquid at room temperature, it seems that might do better. When refrigerated, maybe it wouldn't get so hard. Got any ideas?

Not that it really matters much; I find that my need for a buttery taste is almost nonexistent when eating raw anyway! :)

And now on to my REAL question: I know you're busy out of your head, but would you post the mushroom goulash recipe, pretty please? :D Or tell us where to find it? (Do I have to buy ANOTHER uncookbook? :eek:)

Thanks, and hope your travel prep is going swimmingly (so to speak, LOL)!

[rain]

Kathy: I found the mushroom goulash/stroganoff recipe on page 95 of the *After The Cleanse* thread (the third post down).

Hey, that's great if the VM can handle nut butters (thanks!). I'd feel too uneasy about making them in a KTec, with that sealing ring that's prone to breakage. Hmmm...I wonder if I could get comfortable with using ebay...seems a bit scary, but maybe I could first practice by bidding on some much less expensive items.

* places a hold on the book "eBay for dummies" at library" *

[mtmouse]

Thanks for the goulash pointer, rain!

EBay is wonderful. I use it a lot. BUT--I wouldn't suggest getting your Vita-Mix there! You really want that 7-year warranty, I feel. Since you can get the reconditioned ones from VM directly for $350 and no shipping AND get the full warranty, why risk saving even $100 for one you can't be sure of, and no warranty?

And I doubt you'd find one on eBay for less than $250. I wouldn't risk it myself. Now, you could always simply put in a bid for $50 (eBay remembers your high bid and only bids the minimum necessary at any point, so you don't have to keep checking in or anything) and see if you win, but I think the chances of that are really small. When I looked before buying mine, the prices were so close to what I could get at VM that it just wasn't worth it to me. And now that I have it, I don't begrudge even $1 of its cost. If it broke and couldn't be fixed, I'd go into debt to get another one without batting an eye! :p

I've already demolished a metal measuring cup and a plastic measuring spoon! :p :( It didn't seem to hurt the blades any, but when I was at Costco last month they had a Vita-Mix demo station and I ended up chatting with the demonstrator. I mentioned my boo-boos and he told me the blades were still fine but they'd be covered under the warranty if not, even under those circumstances.

[Sim]

Thanks for the goulash pointer, rain!

Thanks, Rain, for pointing mtmouse in the right direction! Goulash, stroganoff...it's the same recipe and it's out of this world. Also, Cherie Soria's stuffed mushrooms have now been made in my house for the last three days by three separate family members. AWESOME. Seriously, they are out of this world.

Rain, I'm with mtmouse on that Vitamix warranty. It's worth ordering the machine from the company just to have the warranty.And she's 100% right about the gasket and the shut-off and the negligible amount of food left on the bottom. In fact, Mtmouse is 100% right about just about everything all the time! :DTo be honest, I believe a 3 hp motor is overkill because I also believe that a 2 hp motor is overkill :D I love my Vitamix and I use it several times per day. I once had a blender that had a gasket ring at the bottom and that came apart so that you could get the stuff at the bottom....the gasket wore out quickly and after awhile, the threads on the container didn't work so well either. I know the Ktec is supposed to be great, but since I don't have one, I can't say.

Kath, the miso butter...hm. Well, the coconut butter/oil (which is the same product except in warmer weather it's oil, in colder it solidifies) can be gently warmed (yes, it can...you can even do it in the dehydrator if you don't trust yourself to gently warm it in a slow oven for a very short amount of time) and then easily mixed. Sometimes you might want it harder. Sometimes not. I agree that the buttery taste is almost not necessary for raw, except on those pancakes.. mmmm.

So yesterday being my b-day, my kids and husband were angels....one of my sons works in NYC and he went to Sarma's Pure Food and Wine and bought a whole dinner, just for me, at take-out! One appetizer, one entree, one dessert. $54 takeout. No drinks, no tip. Astonishing, frightening. I want to teach regular ole' folks who don't make NYC salaries how to eat raw and be healthy. A big challenge. $54 for takeout. Was it delicious? You bet. Tiny portions which everyone looked at and said, "That's it???" Guess what? I was totally satisfied. Just goes to show how we fool ourselves about how much food we need to eat. The meal was gorgeous and absolutely magnificent in every way...including the price. Sigh. How can we expect people to buy into this if we don't make it accessible? I know the rent in NYC has got to be astronomical and it's passed onto the patrons but it's so prohibitive. Anyway, so the kids and my husband provided me with dinner, as a surprise...and I provided them with theirs. It was funny and charming and sweet...and they are so dear to me it makes me want to cry. To know that they are so supportive of me that they'd go out of their way --and out of their bank accounts-- to make sure my birthday dinner was special and raw told me everything I need to know about them all, not that I didn't already know it ;)

[milo]

Hi Rain,

Sim and Mtmouse are correct about the vitamix. I bought mine over a year ago and it has never worked right. Finally after a year or so of procrastination I called them. They immediately sent me the postage address label to send it back and within less than a week they sent it back as good as new. They were courteous, quick and they fixed the problem. And I have my vitamix back (that works correctly). You don't realise how much you use it until it is not there.

Milo

[rain]

Kathy, sim, and milo: All your information and advice about the VM is so helpful. I can get lost in unnecessary details. Many thanks! Given how much it will get used (perhaps even bordering on abuse?), that 7 year warranty is important. The KTec jar doesn't come apart either, but I agree that worrying about chewing up that ring that's prone to breakage would be worse than having to work a bit to get everything out the bottom of the VM. I've read (on their sites) that some raw food teachers recommend the KTec and that it's the blender the smoothie bars use. But maybe that's because they can afford to keep replacing the jars when that ring gets chewed up, always have a replacement blender on hand, and keep buying the newest blender as it comes out...I can't! (I think I read that David Wolfe has gone through 3 KTecs!)

And Kathy, I'm very grateful for the warning about ebay. You've just saved me alot of time and worry!

I just found out there will be a VM demo in my city in May...great! I have some extra money coming to me in a few months that should just about cover a VM, so there should be one in my kitchen this summer...ice cream! :D I think I'll fall in love with it as much as you guys have yours.

Sim, your family sounds very sweet. :) Happy belated birthday! (I'm only 2 months younger than you!) You're going to be a great raw coach.

When I began to consider doing raw, I thought to myself, "Wow, what if it's really true that most of the disease, suffering, drugs, surgery, etc. are happening just because we don't have the strength (or whatever it is we need) to do what's really required to be happy? What if our whole medical system really is that wrong?" And I just read a phrase recently that stuck in my mind: Something about "the crazy, sad, and expensive ways we die". ...unnecessary ways. And the wasted potential. And the years lived only half alive. Yes, sad! May the rawvolution go on...

[mtmouse]

Sim's right! I just made that frosting and it rocks! (I used two-thirds cacao butter and one-third coconut butter.)

I had these fudge balls in the fridge. I'd rolled them in grated walnuts instead of almonds, and they were looking really greasy and messy. So I just threw them back into the food processor, formed them into a cake, and frosted them with the frosting. Voila! Delicious looking and tasting brownie bars! (They already tasted good, but now they look good and taste better, LOL.)

That GreenFoods fridge fudge is next--probably later today or tomorrow. :D

[Elikat36]

I am SOOOO glad to have come across this board! I just started a raw, vegan diet on Tuesday March 4 and still am going strong. I'm wondering, though, what are some of the symptoms associated with becoming a first time raw foodist? There is little information on the Net, and some days I feel great and some days (like today) I feel quite nauseous. Last night, I was required to go to a work dinner and managed to remain vegan, but not raw. Today I'm right back on track. Unfortunately, this is going to be an issue for me. So, here are my questions:

1- What are some of the symptoms in the first few weeks or months of "going raw?"
2- How do some of you deal with social functions? Any suggestions?

and,

3- Where in the world do a find a VitaMix blender that isn't so expensive!!!!! :mad:

Thanks all!

[mtmouse]

Welcome, Elikat,

I suggest you read this entire thread from the beginning. It won't take all that long, and you'll get almost all your questions answered.

For me, the only symptom is gas. :p

The Vita-Mix seems expensive, but it's worth every penny. Start saving. :) You'll spend less on electricity or gas (if you aren't cooking), less on restaurants (if there aren't raw ones near you), and less on junk. You'll be able to pay for the VM sooner than you think!

[mtmouse]

And Kathy, I'm very grateful for the warning about ebay. You've just saved me alot of time and worry!

Actually, what's important here is that eBay is a great place to SELL your Vita-Mix, if and when you want to. :)

[Elikat36]

Thanks...I read mostly through and the board is great and DID answer most of my questions. I'm feeling great again today - the nausea is gone!

Welcome, Elikat,

I suggest you read this entire thread from the beginning. It won't take all that long, and you'll get almost all your questions answered.

For me, the only symptom is gas. :p

The Vita-Mix seems expensive, but it's worth every penny. Start saving. :) You'll spend less on electricity or gas (if you aren't cooking), less on restaurants (if there aren't raw ones near you), and less on junk. You'll be able to pay for the VM sooner than you think!

[rain]

Actually, what's important here is that eBay is a great place to SELL your Vita-Mix, if and when you want to. :)

Oh, that's an idea that takes some of the pressure off my choice of vitamix model. I don't have to assume i'll have to keep using the same one I buy for the rest of my life (but I may never want to part with it). Thanks. :)

[Sim]

Hi Buddies~
I'm off and flying...to England, to be with Karen Knowler for a my weeklong training...
Can't wait to report how things went.
I'll miss you all...keep the dehydrators humming!

[mtmouse]

Have a wonderful time, Sim!

I can't wait to hear all about it!

[Res]

"England"....what a wonderful trip you'll have. :)

Love you,
~Res

[rain]

Well, I had to pronounce my rice sprouting project a failure. I wanted to make Caribbean Wild Rice, but I didn't have any wild rice so I used long grain brown rice instead. I got it to sprout just fine (though it took an inordinately long time), but today when I tasted it I just didn't like it. It was still chalky-feeling even after all this time of sprouting, but mostly it just tasted bitter and nasty. So out it went.

Then I saw in Cohen's book that we should use *only* wild rice for sprouting. I wonder if that's what my problem was. Has anyone ever been successful in sprouting regular brown rice (I tried long grain, but there's also short grain and sweet grain)? I wonder where I could get information either way about that.

So today I'll go out and get some and start over! I suspect it'll take a lot less time than this attempt did. And hopefully come out better.

Hi there, Kathy. I've found a site that addresses your question (scroll down to "Part 2, Sprouting Grains", about halfway down):

http://rawfoodsuccess.blogspot.com/search/label/A0%20sprouts

Rice: Soak 12-18 hours, sprout 1.0+ days. Method: cloth or jar. Only brown, unprocessed rice will sprout. White rice, wild rice are dead and won't sprout. Standard long grain rice doesn't sprout. Short, medium grain brown rice, also brown basmati (but not Texmati) rice will sprout. Before root appears, rice can be eaten but difficult: bland, chewy, *very* filling. Once root appears, rice sprout is very bitter. The only rice I suggest sprouting is: Lundberg Farms "Wehani" rice, a specialty rice (sprout 1.5 days). It is least bitter - less bitter than fenugreek - of possible use in recipes.

It sounds like even that Lundberg Farms "Wehani" rice has some bitterness (I don't know how bitter fenugreek is). But it says on this site that wild rice is dead and won't sprout...? Maybe the person tried to sprout a different kind of wild rice than the one Cohen uses.

[mtmouse]

Thanks, Rain!

That's interesting.

On my first attempt it was indeed long grain brown that I tried with. As I said, it definitely sprouted, but it tasted awful.

I had some sweet brown rice and some short grain brown rice that I considered but never tried.

However, my wild rice sprouting was a total success, easily as good as wheat. It did take almost 6 days, though--but then I had it in a fairly cold room, too. So I'm not sure just what your source means by that.

Truth is, though, even the wild rice never got to the chewiness I would prefer, so taking into consideration its price I probably wouldn't do that again.

I think wheat may be the best for a grain-type salad. Cohen's wheat berry salad is really yummy!

[yomama]

Hi everybody,
I am new to the whole raw food way of life, besides your daily fruit and salad type of thing, but I'm really interested in going almost all raw. I have always been a calorie counter type of person, and I have read a couple of times that it is not really necessary to count calories when eating raw.. I wanted to know if other people felt that it is ok to not count and if you are still loosing weight as you go.

Thanks for the input.
Josie

[ninab64]

...
One last thing: there is a gadget called the EZ Sprouter that seems to be a great thing. I don't have one...it only costs $8 but I've been lazy about ordering one...but it seems like a good idea. Sproutman or Sproutpeople sells it, I believe. If you get one, let me know how it works out!
Love you all....love what goes on here!:)

i have 2 easy sprouters, and they work great for me. i have birds and give them sprouts every day, so i am always making a small amount of sprouts in my 2 containers every day.

i think they are closer to $12 each, but still worth it

[ninab64]

Deciding which blender to buy has been a confusing experience for me. I told someone who loves her KTec that I'd decided on a Vitamix (not knowing her preference), and she said she used to have a Vitamix and prefers the KTec because she doesn't have to waste the food she can't dig out of the bottom, plus it makes smoother smoothies (it has a 3 HP motor compared to the 2 HP Vitamix). But the KTec has a reputation for chewing up the sealing ring in the jar (mmm! rubber smoothies! :p ). So now I'm considering a commercial Vitamix (Vita-Prep 3) that costs $500 at rawguru because it has a 3 HP motor. (3 HP might make it easier to make nutbutters.) I think I'll go with either that or a regular Vitamix that has the variable speed dial. And occasionally i reconsider the KTec... :rolleyes: Sheesh, you'd think they'd be able to come up with a perfect blender, huh? I don't have alot of money but, if an extra $100 will get me a blender I'll be happier with in the long run, I'd rather stretch and find the money, because I feel so excited about and committed to raw, and I won't want to spend even more money on the better blender they may come up with a decade or so from now.


my vitamix came with a long, narrow, rigid spatula that is great for getting out most of the food at the bottom of the container. if a vitamix doesn't automatically come with one, buy one with the blender. i have 2

i know there's been conversation about juicers vs. vitamix. my own experience is that i cannot seem to digest properly my green smoothies, but the juices give me no problems, so for now, i use my green star and have bags of frozen pulp.

i need a good recipe for a savory cracker!

[Elikat36]

Kathy,

BTW, at the risk of being crude, I too have been having the same "symptom." Does it go away? I hope it does before my boyfriend does...

Is the gas just my body adjusting?

Welcome, Elikat,

I suggest you read this entire thread from the beginning. It won't take all that long, and you'll get almost all your questions answered.

For me, the only symptom is gas. :p

The Vita-Mix seems expensive, but it's worth every penny. Start saving. :) You'll spend less on electricity or gas (if you aren't cooking), less on restaurants (if there aren't raw ones near you), and less on junk. You'll be able to pay for the VM sooner than you think!

[BIGLU]

:confused: How come I don't feel like I'm satisfied when I only eat fruits, vegetables, and nuts? I still have that I could eat something else feeling...

Thanks.

[mtmouse]

Kathy,

BTW, at the risk of being crude, I too have been having the same "symptom." Does it go away? I hope it does before my boyfriend does...

Is the gas just my body adjusting?

Mine seems to be settling down. (I'm coming up on 3 weeks all raw right now.) But if you've read the rest of this thread, you may have seen that Res kept having trouble with it the whole time, and I don't think it went away during the 30-day challenge for her.

So I don't really know what to say except to experiment with different types of food, maybe do some research on other raw sites. Or stick with it and see if it lessens over time, like it seems to be with me.

:D

[mtmouse]

:confused: How come I don't feel like I'm satisfied when I only eat fruits, vegetables, and nuts? I still have that I could eat something else feeling...

Thanks.

Well, sometimes it's just psychological. Could that be happening?

I know what you feel, though. While I'm eating all raw now and usually do, I'm not necessarily vegan. So I do eat raw cheese and would eat raw fish or meat jerky if I had any. I also eat sprouted grains (and some people eat sprouted legumes), which are definitely filling.

Also, are you eating things like avocado and/or coconut? Sometimes those higher-fat foods will seem more satisfying. Or maybe you simply aren't eating enough yet.

I'd have to say, though, that at least for me the desire for animal products and grains is really diminishing over time, and the desire to have them cooked is almost nonexistent. (Doesn't mean I never would, just that they definitely aren't calling to me now.)

Just keep listening to your body and see what it would really like. Lately I've been making Alissa Cohen's salads, and they are fabulous! And I've recently made a chocolate fudge that's to die for. Start messing around and see if you can come up with stuff that looks, feels, and tastes satisfying. And if all raw's not for you, don't sweat it!

:)

[rain]

I've been too busy uncooking to post for awhile! Not that I'm making anything that fancy; it just takes me a long time to do things. And I've been trying to curb my addiction to cruising the web, reading about raw food (something i think I enjoy even more than preparing and eating my raw food, lol!).

I've made Sim's mushroom stroganoff and really like the noodles-and-sauce thing and the mushroom flavour, but it doesn't have enough flavour because I didn't use the nutritional yeast and didn't use enough of the other flavourings.

I sprouted some sunflower seeds and am surprised by how much I love them! They're such a yummy kind of crunchy, so much nicer than the dry crunch of soaked-and-dehydrated sunflower seeds!

And I'm soooo in love with that chocolate avocado pudding! I eat it every day. The avocado makes it so satisfying. It fills all the empty corners that may be left after I've eaten a veggies-only meal. Avocado doesn't weigh me down as much as nuts do, PLUS I find it's more filling than nuts. And the chocolate satisfies my cravings. :D

BIGLU, if you're still following this thread and if you like chocolate pudding: try that chocolate avocado pudding (the recipe is on the LemonHead Recipe Box thread)! Also, are you drinking green smoothies every day? I've been drinking them every day for breakfast, and have been surprised by how satisfying they are. Victoria Boutenko's book "Green For Life" is great for learning about them and getting inspired to drink them.

And here's a link to a thread on another forum that has some interesting thoughts about that missing feeling of fullness (but the discussion goes off-topic after the first page, so no need to read beyond the first page unless you're interested in the new topic that comes up):

http://www.rawfoodsupport.com/read.php?11,34123,page=1

I've been badly in need of some new clothes (I wear them till they're almost falling off me!). I found some nice (and inexpensive) secondhand ones last week, and it was so much fun because I've lost 20 pounds (I'm now only about 15 pounds above my goal weight) and I'm glowing from the raw food. So the clothes look good on me! :)

I'm on my way to learning about wild edibles. In two weeks, Sergei Boutenko will be giving a talk here about that very topic! Hopefully, I'll find a connection there to someone who does wild edible nature walks.

[mtmouse]

Rain,

When you make your chocolate pudding, how much do you make at a time? Will it keep in the fridge?

[rain]

Kathy, I make one whole recipe of the chocolate pudding at a time (as I posted it on the LemonHead Recipe Box thread) which, I'm guessing, is maybe about 6 servings. And I've kept it in the fridge for up to 3 (or maybe 4) days, with no effect on the taste that I can tell. I got the recipe from one for a chocolate pie, which some people must store as well, so I guess it's okay that the avocado in it must be going brown (if that's what you're wondering about).

Now I'm remembering that, when I made a small amount of the key lime pie (which also contains avocados), it also sat in the fridge (and also the freezer) for about half a week before i finished eating it. It turned a slightly darker green in that time, but it still looked and tasted good.

[mtmouse]

OMG!

That strawberry cheesecake is THE BEST raw dessert I've ever made! It tastes absolutely like cheesecake! It's fabulous!

All this, of course, is based on licking the spoon from the crust and the filling. Right now it's in the freezer chilling (and hopefully gelling). If it doesn't gel, then I'll probably serve it in individual ramekins for my guests. Or make it with raw honey instead of agave.

But that's a trifling matter. This stuff is just out of this world!

Now, I'm still married to my fudge! Even though he might have to learn to share. Right now the only thing making it less than perfect is a slightly funny taste. At first I thought it might be the cocoa butter, but now I think it's because I made it with macadamia nuts. I'll try it next time with almonds or cashews and see if that solves that little problem (but I worry about almonds, because the fudge is SO smooth now and I'd hate to lose that). When I get it to where I think it's perfect, I'll post what I did.

But I think I'm going to forget avocado-based desserts in the future--it just isn't my thing. So right now my faves are:

Strawberry cheesecake
Chocolate fudge with chopped walnuts
Frozen carob banana ice cream with Sim's chocolate sauce

I think I can manage with those! Now, how much can I eat before I start my cleanse in April? :D :D:D

[Sim]

Hi Everyone!!!!!
I'm back from The Raw Food Coach training with Karen Knowler...and I'm a different person!!!!!
WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! That says it all....6 days of 9am-5pm intense training...learning business aspects of running a coaching business, learning about oneself and the focus...it was simply amazing. And to be surrounded, literally day and night, by14 other raw food people (12 "trainees", our coach Karen Knowler, Russell James--raw chef extraordinaire!--and his kitchen assistant who flew in from Barcelona for the week...omigosh. Heaven. We talked, we explored, we shared, we worked...and we ate!!! I cannot write about it all...it would fill a book...but there were so many things I learned, so much I heard...many of these people had been on Alissa Cohen's training, some had been to Gabriel Cousens' Tree of Life Center in Arizona, Russell himself had been a kitchen angel at Living Light just three years ago (hope for me!)...and Karen Knowler herself is an absolutely amazing coach. I learned so much about raw food, attitudes, business, gurus...and although the week was about business, the sharing extended to information about colonic hydrotherapy, yoga, Rolfing, Hippocrates Institute...many of the people there had spoken with and/or been to courses with Victoras Kulviniskas, all the Boutenkos, Cousens, David Wolfe, Matt Monarch...my head was spinning! So much to learn, so much to know, so much to experiment with!

Most of the people there were not totally raw...one woman had eaten at McDonald's just last week! The point is that you don't have to be 100% raw to want to delve further into the benefits of being raw. And you can make your own adjustments along the way. So nobody should ever beat themselves up for what "percentage" raw they are...doesn't matter. Just listen to your body.
Speaking of which, the food I ate was telling my body a lot of things. We each had a pint of green juice or green smoothie every morning for breakfast at 8, snack of fruit at 11, lunch (usually a salad with yummy variations of cashew dressing) at 1pm, snack at 4 (crudites and a dip or sometimes a fruit smoothie), and dinner at 7. Dinner was amazing: stuffed mushrooms, nori rolls, curry with parsnip rice, tacos, almond bread veggie sandwiches, pizza--followed by a light almond milk dessert, although one night we had a passion fruit pudding, one night it was a chocolate cake that was to die for, and the last night it was chocolate and maple nut ice creams. Hardly any sweets at all, except for once per day. No discernible nuts, except for what was in the dressing. Hmm. Made me rethink my own diet and just how many nuts I consume.

By the way, about gas: I'm sure you know this but just in case: it's the eating of nuts with veggies and/or fruits that can create bloating and gas. I'm passing this along because I never realized the reason for this: fruits digest within ½ hour of eating them, veggies not much long after. Nuts take a long time, even soaked ones. When the fruits/veggies digest, it causes fermentation in the stomach of whatever is left to be digested and since nuts take a long time to digest, it's a perfect situation for the production of gas and bloating.

I have so much to tell, but I won't bore you all!!! Just know that if anyone is interested in raw food coaching, I recommend Karen Knowler's to the nth degree (no, I don't get paid for saying that!!:D). She is quite amazing, a consummate professional, and runs an excellent training. I didn't get to see ANY of London at all...we were out in the stick; I had to take three trains to get there!...but it was worth every penny. Quite a journey, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, professional. I'm home now, but I'm continuing the journey in every way....great to be back with you all!!! Much love.

[mtmouse]

Oh Sim, how marvelous!

And how marvelous to have you back! I hope you aren't too different--I liked you so much before! :) :) :)

Interesting about the fruit and nuts. I've heard that theory before, in several iterations, and can't say I ascribe to it completely--since for me the gas seems to come and go, but I usually have been having some combination of fruit and nuts at least once a day. However, it will be relatively easy to test, and I'll try to do that. (Of course, first I have to eat some of my strawberry cheesecake, LOL!)

I'm thrilled that you had such a wonderful time and I'm thrilled that you're back! I can't wait for all the little gems I know you're going to be sharing. And I know you are going to be a successful businesswoman and a fantastic coach. You rock!

[TeePee]

Hi!!!!

I'm back!!! I've been soooo busy moving, packing, unpacking, selling, leasing out my condo, UNleasing out my condo.....and on and on..BUT now that my dehydrator is finally unpacked, I'm ready to go back to my raw ways!!! I have been about 50/50 with all the transitioning, so now I'm back!! I have missed everyone on this thread. Hopefully I will have more time to check in. So glad everyone is still here!!!
:D

[TeePee]

WELCOME HOME, SIM!!!!:D

[rain]

Wow, Sim!!!

I feel so inspired by the energy and excitement of your journey (it come through your words) and by what you've shared in over the past two weeks! I'd love to go to some of the places you've listed and be among such kindred spirits (but cannot afford it right now). But you worked your way there, with your 40-day fasts and learning about raw on your own over the past year. And not that I know yet what I want to be when I grow up... I just know I yearn to be among people who are passionate about raw food, body therapies, etc...becoming truly alive. So I really appreciate the community we have here. :) And I'm lucky to be living in a city that some raw gurus occasionally visit.

I didn't know that about eating nuts with fruits/veggies( I still have alot to learn). What you say about nuts reminds me of my intention to keep my nut consumption to a minimum, as much as I can without getting too strict.

Welcome home!!! I really appreciate the generosity of what you (and Kathy) share here. :D And i agree with Kathy...you're going to be a great coach!

[rain]

Yay, Teepee!!! Hi there! i'm so happy too "meet" you! :) I know you from some of your past posts. Although I still have to sit down sometime and read this thread through from start to finish. I'm so excited about raw that it seems I can't help jumping all over the net, reading bits and pieces and saving things to read later, LOL!

[rain]

Wow, Kathy, that's great about the strawberry cheesecake, especially since it's less than 50% nuts (that cacao butter seems to be a really useful ingredient)!!! And great that it worked so well with your frozen strawberries. (Hopefully, it's tasting at least as good today as it did last night.) With that fudge of yours, it sounds good enough to win your guests over to raw! I can't wait to make it with the strawberries from my garden. Although my plan is to do a MC, then eat only fruits/veggies and meditate alot in June/July. So I'll have to start making it with frozen berries as soon as my cocoa butter arrives in the mail so that, like you, I can fast in peace in June. :p

Didn't I read you posting before about something you made with macadamia nuts tasting a bit funny? Or I may have read it somewhere else. I do remember hearing about it being easy for macadamia nuts to go off.

I love your list! But carob ice cream?? I tried using about 1/4 raw carob and 3/4 raw cocoa in my last batch of pudding...blech! Even when I made more 100% chocolate pudding and mixed it with the 1/4 carob pudding to dilute the carob further, i still didn't like it. I don't at all like the smell of the raw carob i bought (very different than roasted). I know there's one raw cocoa I like more than another (it's alot more chocolaty), so maybe some raw carobs are also better than others?

[mtmouse]

Hi rain,

Yes, the cheesecake does taste as good today as last night! However, it won't hold its shape in just the fridge. I decided to freeze it, then cut individual pieces, and take one out and thaw it to see what it looks like. If it works, I'll just serve it that way, drizzled with fresh strawberry sauce. But I think one thing at least that I'll do next time is make it with raw honey instead of agave, and see if that helps it stay firmer. Taste-wise, though, it's right up there!

I also made the spinach-mushroom quiches today. I did a half-recipe, and I made the crusts yesterday. I don't have "tart cases" they mention (and I absolutely don't believe they got that shaped crust using plastic wrap inside any tart case!), so I simply lined a couple of cereal bowls with cling wrap and put the crust mix in there. It seemed to work great, and after drying overnight they held their shape enough to dry some more today.

However, when I looked at them about an hour after filling, they had flattened out like a tostada! LOL. I decided to put them back in their bowls (without the plastic wrap) and let them warm and dry that way. I figured they wouldn't get as dry, but once again the flavor of this mix is spectacular, and I'm sure just for me I won't mind if they aren't perfect. I intend to eat one for dinner tonight! :) But as they are, I wouldn't serve them to a guest.

As for carob, I used to hate carob with a passion. I decided to try it again based on Cohen's raves. I looked for it online (including her site) and couldn't find any. Then, to my amazement, I discovered a bulk bin with it at my local HFS. I got some and I love it! And it has something like 30% or less of the fat of chocolate. So I think probably your batch or your brand is the problem.

Anyway, I make fudge balls with it, and also sometimes put 2/3 carob, 1/3 raw cocoa powder. But I love it in my frozen banana ice cream (which I then top with Sim's chocolate fudge sauce, which I always make with all chocolate!).

And I doubt my mac nuts have gone bad, though it's always possible. They are kept in a cool room at the HFS, and I store them in the freezer--and I go through them fairly rapidly. They taste great in the other stuff I use them for (including today's quiches). Once I make the fudge with another nut I'll be able to tell if that was the culprit.

Happy eating, LOL!

[Sim]

Rain, Kath, TeePee~ You make my heart sing!!!!
There are three recipes I have to share with you that are company worthy and spectacular in taste, textures, and looks...but one of the recipes is not yet in my possession. Russell James made a chocolate confection that was not even of this universe....the size of the slices was so tiny...because to eat more than a tiny slice would result in a physical collapse...I know it was made of raw cacao, cacao butter, coconut butter...and one or two other secret ingredients which I will have knowledge of in a few days. But the other two recipes, well...I know we've all tried a chocolate pudding or two made with avocado and/or that devil carob...but the one I had was unbelievable and it was topped with a passion fruit raspberry sorbet that alone was fantastic but combined with the chocolate pudding was just to die--or live--for. I think the difference between that pudding and the ones I've tried was the texture...I usually make mine creamy...it's pudding after all, right? But this one was thick and heavy and dense...and then with the other fruit sorbet on top, well....Shall I post it here or in the recipe box? I know I'm making you suffer, but I want to put it in the right place. Besides, it's in my book in the other room and I'm in a slight rush right now.:o So, I'll post later. Love you all!

[mtmouse]

Oh yum Sim,

I'd say post them in the Recipe Box. We can always talk about them here though!

A follow-up on my spinach-mushroom quiche: I had one for dinner last night and it truly lived up to my expectations. (Other than looks, as I wrote earlier). It is now #1 on my favorite raw foods (including desserts, if you can believe that) of all times!

However, because I had only dehydrated the quiche in its crust for about 6 hours and they suggest 24, I let the second one stay in the dehydrator overnight, and plan to have it for lunch today. Well, I've taken a look at it and today it's really ugly! :p It turned all brown on top instead of a beautiful pale green. I'm sure it will still taste yummy, but again for presentation purposes I'll plan in the future to dehydrate them just 6-8 hours to maintain their color. I do want them to be fully warmed, though.

And I think my chocolate pudding from the other night may give me a sneak preview of the texture you're talking about with yours. We shall see, because I'm definitely going to try yours too! LOL.

And I'm still trying to wrap my head around the nut/fruit separation. (Of course, true die-hard food combiners don't combine fruits with veggies, either, using the same logic). I mean, after all: no raisins in my cauliflower tabouli? no nut crust on my strawberry cheesecake? no grawnola? no almond butter on an apple? no flax pancakes with berry syrup? My life would cease to exist as I know it, LOL!

But also, I have to say, I ate several of those combos yesterday, and no gas! So again, I'm not so sure of that one.

But I have decided to do an experiment of a different sort, kind of triggered by your description of your workshop fare, and move my green smoothie to dinner, all on its own. I'll eat larger meals for breakfast and lunch, with maybe a couple of small snacks, and then let my smoothie be it for the evening. I'll see how that goes!

so glad to have you back, Sim!

[ninab64]

hey, Sim!

what a coincidence, i found Karen's site a few weeks ago, and have been subscribing to Russel's emails too. that must have been a blast!

[writergirl]

I am not off the cleanse yet, but in preparing for my business trip, I thought I would try to find some things I could do and take with me on a long trip. I am thinking of little treats that will see me through that can be made in a hotel room. I can find my meals, I think, but I would love help with raw treats so I don't eat the wrong thing. Please feel free to redirect me.

[Nance]

Greetings ladies!

I am continuing on a 21+ day MC and on Day 17. I look forward to a 30 day cleanse, and am giving myself the liberty to choose after 21 whether to go that long. I even went camping last weekend in some COLD weather, the camping was fun, but my metabolism was not keeping me warm even in two sleeping bags with Army planket over that in cozy tent.:confused: But hey, I overcame my excuse of doing an MC in the winter time! :) On the road trip, I was aware of the JUNK FOOD that abounded. I even missed Cheetos. :eek:

I have been through much since last summer's marathon MC, when I remember the tremenous support this thread was. So, I am back! mtmouse, res, sim it is great to 'see' you guys again. With the exception of Thyroid med, I have been pharmacutical-free since the last MC! That is sweet victory!

I have moved TWICE since last summer, that really helped me scale down my possessions, and in the process decide what is really important to me. I am glad to say that every bit of my raw 'gear' made it through the screening.
To gear up for the one month raw food challenge, I have:

collected up one of my rawbooks today that lent out
purchased a coffe grinder for grinding seeds
started or will start soon seeds for garden: basil, cilantro, parsley, spinach, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, summer squashes. I live with some avid gardeners, so I am motivated. They will rent the Roto-Tiller soon, and the little seedlings are coming up!:D

I think I will get a Mandoline. Does anyone have suggestions on a website or type to get? I hear they can be really vicious. :(

Love to all y'all! I look forward to getting in this thread again! Nance

[/LIST][LIST]

[mtmouse]

Welcome back, Nance!

You can be my inspiration! I plan to do 30+ in April.

I got a cheap mandonline and do use it occasionally, but not much. It's definitely vicious! My thumbnail just now finally grew out the deep gouge at the base caused from jamming it last summer. :p

[rain]

Hi Nance, it's great to "meet" you. And way to go with having done 17 days of the MC so far! :)

OMG, Ouch, Kathy! I remember reading on this thread about a few other mandoline injuries (Sim and maybe Res) as well. If I used one, it would definitely bite me, because I'm such a space case! I think I'll stick to what's possible to do with my veggie peeler.

I'm starting to feel a bit tired of food (well, okay, to put it more honestly: ambivalent), which brings up thoughts of another fast. But I didn't want to fast during gardening season. It would be too hard to work all day at the community garden (3 blocks away from home...no bathroom! :rolleyes: ) I haven't strayed from eating raw, but today was definitely too little greens and too much fruit and chocolate pudding. I didn't have my morning smoothie greens on hand (I'd planned to go out to buy them first thing in the morning..not a good plan!). I feel so much better when I start my day with a green smoothie.

I've been following some of the going-on at this site:

http://www.globaljuicefeast.com/

It (as well as my having lurked on the MC board here for weeks after I finished my last MC) is inspiring me to do a longer cleanse next time. Here's one thread I find especially interesting and inspiring (for both cleansing and for eating raw), about the impact of our food choices on brain function and conciousness; click on the 3 links she gives to watch the video and listen to the mp3s:

http://globaljuicefeast.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1993473%3ATopic%3A13118

Kathy, I'm stashing that spinach-mushroom quiche recipe as something to definitely make later (I'm into really simple stuff for now). I've been feeling like the lazy one, with all the experimenting you've been doing, but I really appreciate learning from your experience! And I'll order some raw carob from the same place i got my favorite raw cocoa from. (Roasted carob I could tolerate, but that brand of raw carob I tried was truely awful!)

Lol, Sim, are you teasing us with those descriptions and recipes? ;) That's okay, i love anticipation. I love just reading your descriptions. It sounds like your chocolate pudding might be the last thing i eat before my next MC! :p

[mtmouse]

Rain,

This may be against your religion :), but one thing I do is buy frozen chopped greens (collard, turnip, mustard). Then you've got no excuse not to have a green smoothie in the morning! If I've got fresh, I'll use them (or add them), but I don't have access to a garden and even with smoothies I sometimes let the fresh go bad in the fridge. I do love the ease of having those frozen ones.

I did sign up for a local CSA subscription, though, so for at least part of the summer I should have some yummy greens. Depending on how much they give us, though, I may save that for salads. Back to my frozen ones again, LOL.

I'm actually thinking that before this next cleanse (which I intend to make 30-40 days), I'll do two or three days of nothing but green smoothies. Partly to really stock up on minerals, and partly to gently ease my attention away from food.

[Sim]

Hi everyone~
We're such a funny bunch...we LOVE food, we experiment, we get tired of experimenting and then eat simple salads, then we get bored, then we become ambivalent, then we stray, then we come back to raw recipes that would frighten even accomplished chefs...I'm beginning to think it's not the nutrients or lack of that makes us this way, just human nature. It cannot be that we all experience the same things and it's all due to too much/too little greens or fruit or grains or whatever. And you know what? I like us all this way. It's what makes us fascinating to ourselves and to each other.

Welcome back, Nance!!! Oooh, it's so great to see you here. Sounds like you've been quite busy changing your life around AND you cleansed while camping!! AWESOME. We all know how cold we get while doing the MC sometimes and the fact that you made it through camping (lack of bathrooms???) while doing that is masterful. I know I said it's great to see you here...but I"m saying it again: Nance, it's really great to see you here :D

Rain~ yes, please be careful with a mandoline. I lost a piece of my thumb last year...it healed but it was most unpleasant. I tossed that mandoline (which was supposed to be a very good one--an OXO) and one day in the very near future, I'll be getting another one so I can make my ravioli BUT this time, I"m buying an inexpensive one and I'll wear hand "armor" while I use it. I'm not sure what the armor will consist of yet, but I am very attached to my fingers (how do I have the nerve to write such a bad joke??? Aw heck, I'm among friends!) so it will be a necessity. And Rain, when I was in England, we had a huge portion of that chcolate pudding and passion fruit sorbet for dessert one night at 8pm. The next day, all I craved were greens! It was amazing. And yesterday, after not having eaten much the day before because of a family emergency (a nephew of mine was in an accident and has lost most of one foot, poor 25 year old guy), all I wanted was greens. And an avo. Sometimes I have problems with all the New Age-iness of "Listen to you body" or "It will all become clear to you". You know, you have to have very good hearing to get to that point! And it takes more time for some of us than others to develop that hearing. I'm in a state of learning but it was amazing to me that the call of the greens was very clear. It was the first, the very first time in over a year of being raw, that I clearly heard my body say "Get out the arugula and field greens, we're gonna have a party!" I liked it. I liked it a lot.

nina~I've been reading Karen for over one year...keep her articles in a file....they are by far the most inspirational ones I've read on any raw website AND her information is always correct. (I verify when I can...I just hate being sold a bill of goods by anyone with a motive...and you know, the point of all these raw websites is to sell you things...I don't mind buying if the person is credible and I found out--firsthand-- that Karen is definitely credible.) Russell is wonderful...he's just a young, sweet, very funny guy with a sassy sense of humor...in fact, I'd say his personality encompasses all the flavors of a good raw dish: sweet, spicy, salty, sour, bitter, and that ever-elusive sixth one: umami. AND his recipes are excellent, although a bit complicated. I simplify what I can because his ingredients are always right-on.

writergirl~ I went to Ireland and brought the following treats with me: almonds, raisins, dried apricots, medjools, dehydrated veggie chips that were thickly cut so that they wouldn't break easily in transit and in the ziplock bag in my pocket and Gabriel Cousens' magic wands: a spicy nut pate spread on nori and rolled and dehydrated. I also brought 15 Lara bars for a two week stay because I was hiking and wanted the energy. Snacks usually mean nuts but you must be careful not to consume too many.

Have you all noticed I'm on a nut reducing program? I'm convinced that they cause me digestive problems. I previously thought nuts were a great source of protein for me but they actually are a better source of fats and so need to be consumed in smaller quantities. I've even begun to make all my sushi rolls without any kind of pate, using some miso paste, avocados, a little wasabi and tons of veggies as filling. I love putting lots of alfalfa sprouts in there to make a big, fat roll. (I think I like that because those big, fat rolls don't give me any big fat rolls. The connection---or lack thereof--is priceless to me :D)

mtmouse!!!! I have to know how it goes when you have your green smoothie at night instead of in the morning. The reason I say that is that I've noticed that my body actually hums when I have my green smoothie or juice in the morning and I wouldn't want to be on high at night. I also am still skeptical about food combining craziness because it seems like so much work...I don't believe eating should be a difficult decision. BUT when I say nuts and fruits not being eaten together, I'm talking more about tossing a handful of almonds in my mouth during the day and "snacking" on nuts when I've eaten fruit or some other light snack. I actually asked Karen Knowler about that piece of the puzzle: how do you make a fruit pie with a nut crust and then justify the "no mixing nuts with fruits or veggies"? She answered just as we do here on the MC: you have to listen to your body. IN GENERAL, the guidelines say nuts and fruits or fruits and veggies are not good combinations. And you'll notice that many "gurus" advocate monomeals, where you eat only one thing, as much as you wish..so if lunch means four apples, then it's four apples. Or two. Or five. But nothing else. Well. I thought that was a bit excessive, but then I thought of all the times I've eaten two avos or three (yes, my record was three) mangoes and then said, okay, I'm done. That was lunch or breakfast. So maybe a monomeal or two is not so outrageous after all. I wouldn't want to live that way entirely, of course.

Now, this chocolate pudding recipe is so basic and I thought well, hey, I've made that before... it sure came out differently than any pudding I've made before, don't know why. There are no secret ingredients, nothing fancy... The texture was thick and that was after some water was added! Could be that it was mixed NOT in a food processor or Vitamix but with a handheld mixer. Hmmm. Maybe. I"m posting it here, right now AND in the recipe box. And try the sorbet on top of the pudding. To die for, I swear. Add some cashew whipped cream with a raspberry on top and a sprig of mint and you've got a dessert for company! Here it is, both are from Karen Knowler (but the wiseguy comments are mine!):

Simple and Sinful Chocolate Pudding
2 avocados
½ cup raw carob or raw cacao or a combination of the two, if you prefer
1 full cup (12-14) of unsoaked medjool dates (the softer and squishier the better; forget using soaked deglets, they're just not going to give you the right result)
1. blend all the ingredients until the mixture is smooth, creamy, and no lumps.
2. VERY IMPORTANT: taste test. Add more avo for richer and creamier, more dates for sweetness, more cacao if you're a chocolate fiend (or PMS-ing!)
This will keep for 2-3 days in the refrigerator.
Yeah, good luck. No way it could hang around in my house for more than a few minutes.

Now, if you really want to be decadent, make the following and spoon it over the chocolate pudding. To be honest, this dessert served in a water goblet is just divine. Something about taking humble chocolate pudding and putting it in a stemmed glass....

Raspberry Passion Fruit Sorbet
3 cups frozen raspberries
2 passion fruits
1 mango
1 banana
2 unsoaked medjools
(feel free to add pineapple or any other fruits you like)

Just VitaMix or blend these. I think creamy without lumps is ideal but hey, some people like llumps!

[writergirl]

Thanks for the hints. Very helpful!

writergirl~ I went to Ireland and brought the following treats with me: almonds, raisins, dried apricots, medjools, dehydrated veggie chips that were thickly cut so that they wouldn't break easily in transit and in the ziplock bag in my pocket and Gabriel Cousens' magic wands: a spicy nut pate spread on nori and rolled and dehydrated. I also brought 15 Lara bars for a two week stay because I was hiking and wanted the energy. Snacks usually mean nuts but you must be careful not to consume too many.

:)

[sactowngirl]

Hello there! This is my first post ever....2 wks ago I did 13 days MC and since have been raw. I so appreciate eveyones posts-its been increadibly helpful in the journey!
I never knew I could go to the bathroom so much! Holy moley!

I think I've been leaning on nuts and seeds WAY too much. Tried just doing fruit in the morning for a few days but felt like I was eating much more fruit than reasonable and not feeling satisfied! Then, went to soaking oats, seeds, etc to try to eat maybe once in the morning in liu of 5 peices of fruit spread out thru the morning! But, alas...I am starting to get frustrated. What in the world is the right combo? I know everyone is different...but...any suggested plans for going raw without too much nuts and seeds and yet still feeling "satiated"?

My new concern is that I was a serious carnivore before this transition....actually putting down between 1.5#-3.0#(the later to prep for a bodybuilding competition) and NOW I am testing at a very alkaline condition in my body whereas prior to the MC and eating all that meat (and drinking lots of coffee to boot) I was always tested right where I needed to-not too acidic and not to alkaline. Any suggestions?

And, I was hoping that I would need less supplementation for hypothyroidism, cleansing candida & heavy metals, etc but I'd love any feedback on how long on 100% raw foods before I can expect my system to remedy some of this stuff on its own? Anyone that has some good info on this would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Cheers to all- I am loving the conversion to raw and this super supportive environment!:)

[Sim]

HI sactowngirl~
Ah, yes, the nuts and seeds dilemma...what's a rawbie to do? We have all been on our journeys and it is really a very personal trip. I will tell you that I discovered that nuts are very hard for me to digest, even properly soaked, so I keep them to a minimum. But others have less problems.(I didn't discover all this at first...I've been raw for just over one year, courtesy of this bulletin board and the loveliest people in the world who meet here.) Nuts are a good source of protein but they are really the source of fats for raw foodists, not protein. The "typical" raw foodist who is really into all the food combining has only fruit for breakfast or a green juice or smoothie made only with greens or a combo of greens and fruit. A pint of smoothie or juice is an appropriate amount and this should take you to around noon, if breakfast is somewhere around 8am. Believe it or not, it suffices. We are in "discovery" mode and it's hard to hear new messages because our old messages are stiill playing. You know the "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" thing? Well, that's fine if you're hungry. If you're not, don't even have fruit. Wait until your body lets you know. And it will, believe me. As far as alkalinity is concerned. you want to be alkaline! Don't worry; as you eat a healthy variety of raw foods, your body will find its balance. I can't speak to hypothyroidism, candida or heavy metals...just don't know enough. Sactowngirl, I vary...for a couple of weeks I'll have only my green smoothies for breakfast, a salad for lunch and maybe for dinner, too (with a variety of vegs). Then I'll go crazy dehydrating stuff because I need "more-ish" foods, so pizzas, pastas, tacos and other really gourmet, more involved recipes get made. And I'll make raw muesli and almond milks and flaxseed "pancakes" for breakfast. Then I get to feeling that I need to simplify, so I go back to fruits and salads and simpler combinations. But isn't that what we did on a SAD diet, too? Who hasn't "overdosed" on some favorite food for days at a time and then not had it for several months when you were done with the craving? Going raw is healthy but it's not a panacea...we have to respect what's going on inside and give it time...after all, we've eaten all kinds of other things for a lifetime and it doesn't change our total physical well being overnight. Time. Give it time and enjoy the experimentation along the way. And keep reading us here...we love to share!

[sactowngirl]

Thanks, SIM! Wow, so much to learn! I think I got discouraged when I felt so balanced and intentional with the food right after the MC (and energy like I was a kid again...whoohooo!!!!) and then just kinda hit a wall after overindulging in the nuts/seeds, etc. Think I was really excited to work on recipes in this new adventure since I am a "foodie" with my greatest passion being cooking and feeding people. And boy, did I unleash the "uncook"! This stuff is delicious! But, so much to learn and grow in.
I will try the green smoothie idea for tomorrow morning and see how that goes (if my stomach tells me to)....yes, those old tapes telling me to eat every 3 hours-hungry or not- or I might just keel over and die...and with my bodybuilding training, I was sans fruit, carbs, fat and everything that wasn't meat. Gotta tell you, that much meat in my system feels similar to eating too many nuts in this new day. Never in a million years did I ever think I was a candidate for going raw.
Another question, anyone have experiance needing supplements doing raw? If so, what if any would you recommend?
Cheers!
PS: agreed, this is a wonderful group here sharing the journey-so inspiring!

[Sim]

Another question, anyone have experiance needing supplements doing raw? If so, what if any would you recommend?


Hi again, sactowngirl~we're on a wavelength...my job is to feed the world around me, and they don't eat much raw...oh, they like it but they're not ready to give up their SAD diet. Sigh. Anyway, I love to cook and I love to prepare raw, too...I think of it as a win-win situation. As far as supplements go, I really have to say that it's important to get some kind of testing done before you worry about a supplement. I thought I would need calcium (I'm "of an age"), yet the naturopath I went to checked my blood and said my calcium was excellent, probably due to all the greens. I really believe we can get everything we need from raw but I have just begun adding maca (for sexual health and libido), Green Vibrance (powdered greens with 65 million probiotics and phytonutrients) and an occasional spoon of spirulina...all this goes into my morning green smoothie and I swear, I have energy most of the day. I just wanted to maximize my green power (I'm even adding a frozen cube of wheatgrass in the morning to the smoothie...God bless the Vitamix!). Hope this answer spurs others on to answer. I'm no expert...just a willing student :D

[rain]

This may be against your religion :), but one thing I do is buy frozen chopped greens (collard, turnip, mustard). Then you've got no excuse not to have a green smoothie in the morning!


Thanks, Kathy, for that idea! I'd prefer fresh over frozen, but much better a smoothie from frozen greens than no smoothie at all! And now that I'm thinking of it: I'm planning on trying E3Live, which is a blue-green algae in frozen form. I've heard it's one of the best algaes to take, and that it has quite a positive effect on some people. So I guess freezing isn't all that bad! My freezer's gonna be full of wild blackberries, edible "weeds", and greens from my garden by the end of this summer! :D


...yes, please be careful with a mandoline. I lost a piece of my thumb last year...it healed but it was most unpleasant... when I was in England, we had a huge portion of that chcolate pudding and passion fruit sorbet for dessert one night at 8pm. The next day, all I craved were greens!...it was amazing to me that the call of the greens was very clear. It was the first, the very first time in over a year of being raw, that I clearly heard my body say "Get out the arugula and field greens, we're gonna have a party!" I liked it. I liked it a lot.

Now, this chocolate pudding recipe is so basic and I thought well, hey, I've made that before... it sure came out differently than any pudding I've made before, don't know why. There are no secret ingredients, nothing fancy... The texture was thick and that was after some water was added! Could be that it was mixed NOT in a food processor or Vitamix but with a handheld mixer.


Oh Sim, losing a piece of your thumb?! That mandoline sounds as dangerous as my woodworking power tools (but before you start thinking from that that I'm a guy...I'm a woman! :) ). It should come with a warning (especially since there are silly warnings on so many other things). Your idea to wear hand armor is a creative solution.

I'm looking forward to the time I crave greens. The closest I've come to what you're describing is that, a few times in the past, while eating veggies (only because I thought I should, and after a period of less healthy choices), I've felt in my body a very strong "yes, that's what I want!".

I just wrote some things about your pudding recipe on the recipe thread but, lol, it sounds here like maybe there was some secret ingredient in that magical pudding you ate in England...something they didn't tell you about?



....yes, those old tapes telling me to eat every 3 hours-hungry or not- or I might just keel over and die...


Hi sactowngirl, Oh yeah, those old tapes! I've been amazed to discover that a green smoothie is more satisfying to me than nuts, at least in the morning. I get what seems like a different kind of craving later in the day, which is when I really feel a need for some avocado and nuts (but the avocado seems to satisfy me more than the nuts)....and veggies too, of course. It's pretty revolutionary to consider that green leafy veggies can give us all the protein we need (after a process of the body adapting), and that maybe we've been brainwashed about what we need to eat. I've only been raw for a few months, but my eyes are starting to open because of how I feel eating this way and what I've been reading.

[mtmouse]

Oh Sim, losing a piece of your thumb?! That mandoline sounds as dangerous as my woodworking power tools (but before you start thinking from that that I'm a guy...I'm a woman! :) ). It should come with a warning (especially since there are silly warnings on so many other things). Your idea to wear hand armor is a creative solution.

Oh, they come with warnings, all right! And they also come with pushers.

The problem is, unless you have a humongous piece of fruit/veggie, it doesn't work! On mine, if I want to julienne a carrot and lay it on its side, the top half of the carrot won't go through. If I then hold it upright so it's cutting horizontally, then I can't use the pusher because the carrot is too tall.

Last night I did make a fennel salad and I did use the mandoline to good effect. Because the fennel is shaped like an onion, it worked just fine.

But there always seems to be a tradeoff. :(

[sactowngirl]

Sim, thanks for the feedback on the green smoothie in the a.m....wow! My first time ever juicing veggies, and although time consuming on my 1st run, that green juice did an amazing job of holding me through to lunch. Not only that, but I think I felt every cell turn the lights on as it went down! I'm really impressed to say the least.
It's a little leap of faith for me to consider that greens can give us all the protein we need. I am just going to walk one step at a time and try to hear my body tell me what it wants. That is such an opposite construct than anything I've ever beleived was possible! But, food is delightful, and powerful all in one (as are our own bodies and their ability to speak to us, eh?) Very new realm for me.
Anyway...never even considered that raw foodist lean more on nuts for fat, not protein. Yet another huge shift in my understanding of all of this!
Love these posts! Tried the Zuchini Canelloni and the chocolate cake (made into balls then rolled on cocoa powder)the other day-holy makeral! Yum! No wonder you all dig this raw food stuff! Its like I've walked into a secret world that is, uh...close to what the garden of eden would have been like, pure and unabashedly GOOD;)...

[ninab64]

Sim, thanks for the feedback on the green smoothie in the a.m....wow! My first time ever juicing veggies, and although time consuming on my 1st run, that green juice did an amazing job of holding me through to lunch. Not only that, but I think I felt every cell turn the lights on as it went down! I'm really impressed to say the least...

i am so jealous... no matter what i eat, or the manner in which it is prepared, i can't say i ever have felt energized after ingesting something. i have juiced, vitamixed green smoothies, eaten fruit alone, eaten SAD... currently after seeing a nutritionist, i am half way through an elimination diet -- one month without wheat/gluten (that includes lots of related grains and their sprouts), dairy, sugar, chicken, alchohol, coffee and peanuts. so far, my digestion is still uneven and i am not full of energy from the juices and other raw foods i eat. the foods i am told to avoid are not even ones that i eat that often, though i have been eating more breads, included sprouted ones like Ezekiel bread

anyways, i really would like to find the answer to my hair loss and digestive troubles. so far, i feel no closer to an answer than i was before, and i feel alone in this. i hope to get some kind of answer to my problem soon.

[mtmouse]

Ninab,

I wish you luck in your search!

I can't say I have ever felt particularly energized by any particular meal myself, green smoothie, raw, SAD, whatever. However, I do have to admit that I feel very energetic almost all the time, both mentally and physically--and that's done nothing but improve as I've cleansed and gone more and more raw. I also feel more satisfied eating this way than I ever have before. (I'm just finishing off a frozen banana sundae with divine chocolate sauce, LOL.)

At any rate, I do hope you find the answers you want and start feeling better soon!

[ninab64]

thanks, Kathy. actually, i have been reading up on EFT and am thinking of giving that a try. i have lots of issues i would like to try it out on, i should make a list so i don't overlook anything...

btw, have you seen the TLC show "I Can Make You Thin" with Paul McKenna? it appears he uses EFT in the episode airing tomorrow. should be interesting to watch

[mtmouse]

Let us know about that show! (I can only get two channels--PBS (luckily) and CBS myself.)

[kissmysta]

this is my first cleanse.. and im going for the full 30 days.

i just started today, so im a few days early for april, but i really want to be at a healthier state by the time finals come around. i have a slight feeling i'll b clearer and most likely able to study without having to take adderall or anything.

but this is just the night before my cleanse. i had the pure senna tea and LOVE it. i might make it a regular thing after i'm off of the cleanse. :p

well. today is march 22, and i'm ready to do this until at least april 22, i know im going to need a LOT of motivation and encouragement along the way. if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

[mtmouse]

Welcome, and have a wonderful cleanse!

This thread is actually for eaters, and you might start getting jealous :), so even though you're quite welcome here I suggest you start posting in the 2008 What Day Are You On thread:

http://www.therawfoodsite.com/forum/showthread.php?p=54254&posted=1#post54254

That's where all the active cleansers will be! There's also a thread for those on long cleanses that you might enjoy.

Then when you're done, come back here and see about eating raw to maintain all your good results!

P.S. - You don't want to make a regular thing of drinking laxative tea while you're having food. That's when laxative dependency kicks in, and you don't want that. So just save your senna leaves for your fasts and you'll have something to look forward to! :)

Happy cleansing!

[Sim]

anyways, i really would like to find the answer to my hair loss and digestive troubles. so far, i feel no closer to an answer than i was before, and i feel alone in this. i hope to get some kind of answer to my problem soon.

Oh nina! Hair loss...been there, still there somewhat, although it's much better now. I lost a lot of hair last year and I was so upset...went to the nutritionist, talked about why. Well, I'm still not sure why. All I know is that it's now 8 months later on a raw diet and I'm recovering some of that hair. I had done two 40 day cleanses within 5 months of each other and I may have depleted some reserves, resulting in hair loss. As far as you digestion: I hate to say this but there truly are some raw foods that people cannot digest! If you have "cold" digestion, it means you don't break down raw foods easily..those with "hot" digestion have no problem. It's a process of elimination and it sounds like you're already on track to discover what the culprits are. The one thing I would definitely stay away from, for now, are grains. They are often the culprits of indigestion, along with nuts or the combination of nuts and fruits.

[kissmysta]

ahh. yes i did post in there once. and i had to wait for approval, and a few hours later i came in here and posted. i wish it didnt take so long to approve them. but oh well.

i will definitely keep the "no lax after the cleanse" in mind, and yes i will have to come back after the cleanse. im hoping to lose weight and keep it off, so raw food is going to b a must! =]

[mtmouse]

One thing I will add here is that EFT can often work very well on these kinds of things. Even though it seems we have an "explanation", that still doesn't often really explain the true cause. IOW, once we come up with a "reason" we often stop there and just accept it or "learn to live with it". If there's an underlying emotional component to our body's responses (and there almost always is), then no amount of drugs or behavior or diet alteration will actually correct the true cause. (And then what is likely to happen is that the body will simply come up with another means of expression of that true cause.)

Finding and resolving that cause with EFT isn't always fast or easy, but it can and often does have a profound effect on us and on the things we take for granted about our bodies.

Here's a cute story that happened in our house that actually was a quick fix:

http://www.emofree.com/Allergy/pineapple-allergy.htm

[ninab64]

Sim,

this has been going on for me, for at least 5 years, that is about when i remember mentioning it to my internist. my bloodwork comes back fine, so it seems to be considered "what is normal for me"

well, it is not normal for me, and over those years, though i havent been losing clumps and getting big bald spots, what is happening is an overall thinning. used to have to have my hair thinned by my stylist... used to have to only wind the elastic band 3 times... how long do i have to wait before it is something my dr. takes seriously? and my digestion. no physical explanation, so "see a nutritionist" as though telling me to eat animal protein is the answer. palpitations? various other symptoms that come and go? it's like she has thrown her hands up and tossed a hot potato to the nutritionist... who seems to be a big believer in eating for your blood type.

i don't feel any different by eliminating those foods she has told me to, not really. i still can get digestive issues, on one day but not the next. i tell you, this has been so very frustrating.

if i can say one thing has seemed to make a difference, in losing more hair, it has been juicing. i juice 4-6 times a week, for the last month or so, and after a couple weeks, it seemed there was less hair in the shower drain than previously. this seemed to continue on for a few weeks, though it appears as though i am back to losing more hair again.

so, i don't know if standard medicine will hold the answer for me. raw food, per se, doesn't seem to hold the answer either. i just feel defeated, but i don't want to give up

[rain]

Kathy,

What you've said is very interesting (and wise). It can be uncomfortable to not have an explanation, but not knowing can be closer to the truth about something than locking oneself into an explanation that doesn't have much depth (and our western medical system is so caught up in that mediocrity!). There's so much we don't know.

Lately, I've been intrigued by EFT. A few decades ago, I had a very (!!!) bad experience with someone who used NLP, which has left me with a fear of anything that seems to resemble it in any way. But I know so little about EFT that that isn't a fair comparison at all (and my bad experience was about her, not the NLP). I'm intrigued enough that I plan to learn more about EFT...

Ninab,

Maybe your experience of losing less hair after your first few weeks of juicing is a clue? Maybe you have a deficiency, or...

I recently read about a couple who were eating extremely healthy (lots of juicing) who developed serious problems with photosensitivity that they could find no explanation for. Finally, after several months and repeated google searches, they discovered it was the large amounts of a certain kind of sprout (buckwheat, I think) that they'd been taught to juice every day that was the culprit.

There's so much wisdom out there beyond our limited (blinded!) medical system, which it sounds like you're starting to tap into.

[ninab64]

Ninab,

Maybe your experience of losing less hair after your first few weeks of juicing is a clue? Maybe you have a deficiency, or...


i really was hoping that juicing would help me all around, as it seems like i have digestive issues in general, and as i have been reading, if you are malnourished, the body starts to cut back on the "nonessentials" and one of those things is hair production.

and as to your comment about nlp, i'm sorry to hear about your experience. i've never met with someone regarding nlp, though i used to see a hypnotist who spoke of it and inspired me to buy some books on the topic

[rain]

Nina,

Your idea about juicing sounds good to me, but maybe you haven't done it intensively enough. Lately, I've been spending some time every day at this site:

http://globaljuicefeast.ning.com/

They have lots more information at www.juicefeasting.com . David Rainoshek has just completed an M.A. program in juice fasting at Gabriel Cousens' Tree of Life Centre. His juice feasting program involves drinking one gallon of juice per day. He's presenting a huge amount of information about healing on those sites (and enough of it is free, so you don't have to buy a subscription).

But that's just about juicing. (And I happen to be excited about globaljuicefeast right now...I'm presently planning my next MC, and I may try a period of juice feasting to follow it.) There are so many options out there beyond our limited medical system.

Ummm, the NLP...that person wasn't using NLP when I had my bad experience with her, so it really didn't have to do with NLP. The two have just become fused in my mind. So maybe I shouldn't have said anything about it. But thank you for your sympathy.

[AMA]

I'mmm back,

I recognized a few familiar raw friends here. I feel like i'm involved in a reunion except you don't know you're at it with me. I started another MC on Monday and decided to poke around and see what's going on; and I see all the great info, receipes, support and the LOVE fest continues.

I actually do have a question; I have a flat of wheatgrass which will spoil before i get to it as I'm cleansing now, can I juice it and freeze it into cubes for later?

Love the posts!

[mtmouse]

Hi AMA,

I'm not very knowledgeable about wheat grass, so hopefully someone else will be here to advise you, but my gut feeling would be that juicing it and freezing cubes would be fine. You'd of course lose something in the freezing process, but less than you'd lose if you let it spoil, IMO.

Have a great cleanse!

[AMA]

thanks MTMOUSE,

well you make so much sense. of course i should freeze the wheatgrass in cubes instead of throwing it in the garbage. guess i'm a bit fogged in on day 3, my super-duper clarity usually doesn't arrive until day 8!

I remember sharing the Cranberry Scone receipe with you last February, i actually have some in my freezer now, are you still making them?

be well

[mtmouse]

Well, I'm famous for my great advice, LOL! :p

And, yes, I still make the cranberry scones. Used up all the ones in my freezer, though, and since I'm starting a long cleanse April 2, it'll probably be a while before I get any! Now that I mention it, though, it wouldn't be a bad idea to make some up now to have for DH while I'm cleansing and to have for me when I'm done!

[kissmysta]

mmm cranberry scones... i want a recipe! if u dont mind of course.

[mtmouse]

If you'll do a search for "scone" you should find it. If I recall, it's in either the Lemonhead Recipe Box or the After the Cleanse thread, or maybe even this one.

Enjoy!

[Sim]

I'mmm back...I actually do have a question; I have a flat of wheatgrass which will spoil before i get to it as I'm cleansing now, can I juice it and freeze it into cubes for later?

Love the posts!

Hi AMA!!! I love seeing you here!!!! About the wheatgrass: absolutely freeze it in cubes and then just pop one into a green smoothie in the morning, along with your other greens and fruit. These cubes are now sold in stores! My proverbial black thumb disallows me the right to bring a flat of living wheatgrass into my home, so I'm buying the frozen. (Can't kill frozen wheatgrass now, can I?) :o

[jab]

Yes, I would like to receive some of the raw foods receipes. Can you give me suggestions of cook books?

[mtmouse]

Hi jab and welcome!

Please start at the beginning of this thread. You'll find lots of discussion about books.

Also, take a look at the Lemonhead Recipe Box thread. Not all the recipes in there are raw, but most are.

Have fun!

[Monika]

I have a question on the RAW challenenge. Can you eat sushi also and how soon afer the cleanse can you do this? I really want some! I miss my RAW fish!

[mtmouse]

The raw challenge is really just for ourselves, so really you get to make your own rules. :)

Some raw foodies are vegan, so no fish. Some aren't and will eat jerky or sashimi or raw eggs in things.

Sushi, on the other hand, contains cooked rice and sugar and bottled vinegar, and most of the nori sheets are toasted, so it can't be considered raw by any standard.

But you can buy raw nori sheets, and you can make your own. There's a recipe for "fruit sushi" here:

http://gliving.tv/greenchefs/recipes/category/raw/

The "rice" is made with macadamia nuts. No reason why you couldn't do something like that and top it with your beloved raw fish and still be raw!

:)

[Sim]

[QUOTE=mtmouse;54474]The raw challenge is really just for ourselves, so really you get to make your own rules. :)Some raw foodies are vegan, so no fish. Some aren't and will eat jerky or sashimi or raw eggs in things.

Just a clarification here, my mtmouse: All true raw foodies are vegan. Someone who eats lots of raw fruits and veggies but who eats fish (including sashimi or sushi) or jerky made from any kind of animal protein is not a raw foodie but rather a person who incorporates a lot of raw foods into their diet. No animal protein means no meats or fish or eggs or dairy products of any kind, and that even includes honey and bee pollen for true hard-core vegans. That being said, we should all eat whatever makes us feel our healthiest and if someone wants to eat jerky or honey or sashimi, go for it! The Food Judges are not waiting on anyone's doorstep to hand out punishments!

Sorry...just needed to clarify for all our friends :D

[ninab64]

Well, I'm famous for my great advice, LOL! :p

And, yes, I still make the cranberry scones. Used up all the ones in my freezer, though, and since I'm starting a long cleanse April 2, it'll probably be a while before I get any! Now that I mention it, though, it wouldn't be a bad idea to make some up now to have for DH while I'm cleansing and to have for me when I'm done!

oooo, i loved the cranberry scones i made last autumn! i added a bunch of pulp to my recipe, as i pretty much never follow a recipe completely, so i don't know how my scones would compare to anyone else's, but they were GREAT

can't seem to find cranberries lately, though, so i need to think of some other "it" to feature :D

btw, Kathy, i have been using eft on various small and large issues. i am not sure if there is a better way to go about this. i was also wondering if the DVDs would be overkill for a layperson like myself

oh! and the show on TLC with Paul McKenna was good, though he did a variation of the "tapping technique" that i have not seen (no surprise as i am a newbie at it). seems as though people kind of find their own styles -- ? i can write you separately about this entire topic, as it is not about raw... :) however many people might benefit from reading it...

[ninab64]

Nina,

Your idea about juicing sounds good to me, but maybe you haven't done it intensively enough. Lately, I've been spending some time every day at this site:

http://globaljuicefeast.ning.com/

yes, i have been to that site. i think i got there via my subscription to We Like It Raw. not sure i could do a juice fast for that long, but it has certainly inspired me to continue juicing
:)

[mtmouse]

can't seem to find cranberries lately, though, so i need to think of some other "it" to feature :D

Hi Nina,

I use frozen organic cranberries in my scone, just throw them into the batter frozen. They work great!

Hooray for you for using EFT! As for the specific questions, though, I think it's better off-forum. Feel free to e-mail me!

[rain]

thanks MTMOUSE,
I remember sharing the Cranberry Scone receipe with you last February, i actually have some in my freezer now, are you still making them?


AMA, I LOVE your cranberry scone recipe (I've changed them to pineapple scones, but want to try the cranberries next)! I was actually munching on one when I first read your post, so I had to respond (even though it's taken me a few days to do so).

Kathy, I've also decided to do a long cleanse in April (starting April 1). I decided I didn't want to wait till June, which was my previous plan. It's interesting how it's been helping me to get a more solid base into eating raw. I've done 4 cleanses in the past 15 months, and my diet has improved incrementally after every one. :) I like your idea of doing a green smoothie fast for a few days before starting the MC. Today, I'll be drinking lots of smoothies (I have greens to use up) and eating some, ummm...chocolate pudding (hey, it could qualify as a cacao-avocado smoothie! :p ).

[mtmouse]

Rain,

Do you use pineapple chunks or do you blend it up first for the scones?

And I wish I were joining you! I've had all sorts of hurdles thrown into my cleanse path. Now the earliest I can start will be April 7, and I might not be able to do it even then (I may be on jury duty that week). I don't have an entirely open end on the other end, so my cleanse may not be as long as I'd hoped. However, I know I'll do something, and as long as possible in my time frame. So I'll be there to join you at some point! And then, if this one turns out to be a relatiely shorter one, maybe I'll go for the long one later in the summer. We'll see.

At any rate, have a wonderful one yourself! And yay for those green smoothies!

[rain]

Kathy,

I left the pineapple in very small chunks. Although that might have made the scones moister than they'd be with the cranberries (but so would blending them in more, I guess). They were awesome fresh out of the dehydrator. But I noticed they got too moist after being in the fridge, and re-dehydrating them didn't bring them back to what they'd been the first time around (but they were still yummy). I'll see if the cranberries make a difference with that.

Aww, I'm sorry about the jury duty! (I guess it wouldn't be too dignified to be swigging lemonade and asking to "go" every 20 minutes!) I'm glad you can still find some clear time for it this month. I was looking forward to having you as one of my cleansing buddies. Summertime would be a great time for a long cleanse, for surviving the coldies! I'm not certain if this will be a long cleanse for me. I'm setting my intention for it to be (with permission to change, if it starts to not feel right) because i found that, when I intended to cleanse for 10 days with an option to go longer, I seemed to be programmed to stop after the 10 days (even though another part of me wanted to continue).

[AMA]

So here i am - DAY 9 - and feelin' great!

I had a bit of a struggle this time sticking to it. This being my 4th time around i really wanted to do the SWF everyday. In the past I always went back to tea in the a.m. & p.m. It wasn't a matter of getting the SWF down or did I find the taste intolerable, but the effect on my body was something less than desired. By the 3rd day I had actually gained weight. Well that can just send you to cupboard for a snack! I believe in the benefits of the SWF, but my body just doesn't agree. So back to 2 tea time and now I'm feeling that MC high again!

Now I have another problem . . . . I can not stop preparing food. Here's a list of all the food I've made in the last 2 days:

Alissa Cohen's - Cucumber Dill Soup, Pizza Dough, Creamy Cheddar Cheese, Marinara Sause, Corn Bread, Zucchini Bread, Rye Bagels & Swiss Cheese;

Cornbleet - Pumpkin Seed Sun-Dried Herb Pate & Puttanesca Sause (for spaghetti)

Raw - the Uncook Book - Pumpernickel Rye Bread

A friend - Banana Cinnamon Raisin Dessert Bread (very, very, yummy)

WOO HOOOO ! who's coming over for the party? Most everything is in the freezer now & a few things still in the "Big E". Today, it's Apple Muffins & dough for Enchaladas. I still have 15 days left to this cleanse, can you just imagine how full by freezer will be by then!

This always happens to me; i need to be in the kitchen around food while MC-ing. And to boot, my brilliant husband decided to begin a 10-day cleanse today. But more brilliant than he . . . . is me. Imagine the yummies I'll have waiting all for me! (he's not interested in being raw - yet i always find him snacking on my raw foods).

Now that I think of it, maybe I'll make scones w/pineapple - thanks Rain.

From the great smelling kitchen - happy MC-ing!

[mtmouse]

WOO HOOOO ! who's coming over for the party?

Me! me! me! me! me!

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/dance007.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org)

[rain]

Now that I think of it, maybe I'll make scones w/pineapple - thanks Rain.


I'm glad to be of help, LOL! Whatever helps you make it through your cleanse has got to be good. But I can't imagine having your "problem". One of the biggest reasons why I go back to fasting is that I get so tired of having to prepare food.

I'd love to come to your party! :D

My body seems to feel the same as yours about the SWF (at least for part of the time), unfortunately, so I sympathize.

[gointhruthebigD]

I''m on my second day of a 100 day MC and just woke up from a dream where I went to an all you can eat buffet and I was getting upset because the service was very slow in getting us seated so after 40 minutes of waiting I couln't take it no more and I ran over to the buffet line and started eating right out of the serving trays. I remember clearly the food tasting so good it was a rice and bean casserole and in the dream I kept thinking I can't do this I'm on the MC but it didn't stop me I just kept shoveling it in, then I woke up suddenly and had a terrible feeling of guilt for about a minute until the fog in my brain cleared and I was able to seperate fact from food idiation. Only day 2 and I'm having intense dreams of buffets-sad very sad

[PinkkPIKACHU]

I have tried the MC , but failed at the end of the 2nd day. What do you mean by RAW? Like can you name some guidelines? I have no idea what you have in mind. Like what can i eat?

--<3 Brooke

[thesavage]

PinkkPIKACHU -
Food that has not been heated over 105 degrees I believe. (some go up to 118)

Check out the recipes and you'll get the idea.
If you've never had raw food, you're in for a treat.

[TeePee]

Hi Girls!!

Im back, AGAIN!! For all of my "old friends" here (NO SIM YOU ARE NOT "OLD!!!) I think I finally have everything in my life resolved!!! My condo FINALLY sold and closed on Friday!! And of course I went out to celebrate at my favorite Greek restaurant and YES, I managed to stay away from my daughter and BF's saganaki and have my great big salad with minced garlic and lemon juice!!!

It has been a crazy 9 months of getting myself situated with buying, selling, renting, selling, moving, etc. Now we are all settled into our new home (and LOVING IT) and I can stop worrying about 2 mortgages and start preparing my raw food!!

I have been back and forth and back and forth and now I'm just back. After only 5 days now on 100% raw, I have dropped 5 pounds of the million that I have put on since last July!! I am feeling great.

So, I have made a few batches of Matt's Onion Bread, such a great staple when transitioning back!! ANd right now I have an experiment in the DH. I know I mentioned months ago about trying to make it without the onion, for when I want something "plainer". So, it is in progress. I shredded zuchinni in the food processor and left out the nama shoyu. Kept in the sunflower and flax and oil. Added salt and onion powder. We shall see how it turns out. The only problem I forsee is that I should have added more liquid to make up for deleting the nama shoyu. It didn't seem to stick together as well when I was spreading it out. Hmm, should be done by this evening!

AMA, nice to see you here again!!

Now I have the whole day to go try out some of all of your fabulous postings!!!:D

[Sim]

Okay, okay....all of you are just too much!!!
TEEPEE!!!!!!!!!Yay!!!! You're here!!!!! Oh, how we have missed you!!!!! You've gained a million pounds?? Yah, sure...my line is: I've gained and lost a million pounds in my life but not all at one time! This is not the case any more with raw, but darn that cooked food...it sure does play tricks on us! :eek:
Anyway, the great thing is to hear your voice here again so we can all benefit from your humor, enthusiasm, common sense and sense of adventure...in the kitchen and everywhere else!! Sounds like life is on the right track for you and you sound so happy....YAY!!!!!!:D You know where to find me and the rest of us, too. Can't wait to hear more.

Rain, you really are a source of fabulous tips...so cool, so very cool. :)

AMA~Girl, you are just amazing...if I had all that stuff in my freezer, I'd be standing in front of it, with the door open, and not even waiting for any of it to defrost! And to be creating it all while you're cleansing???? AMA-zing. Tee hee. I just had to write that.:o

I've been missing for awhile on these here boards....life is ridiculously busy, not always with good things, but every day is an adventure. I'm writing an eBook and blog for my website, I'm finishing my novel, I'm preparing for my stint at Living LIght (just two more weeks....then off to California for 6 weeks of culinary challenge...I hear it's intense and not so easy....can't wait! I'm very, very excited!) and there have been tons of various and sundry difficult things that have arisen in the weeks since I"ve been home from England, mostly having to do with health issues of those I love and life situations that need some re-organizing. But I get up with a smile every day, thanking the Universe for giving me another day to see if I can help make things better and happier for everyone...and myself, too. I've discovered that I'm really only needing the simplest of raw things: green smoothies every morning or a monofruit meal, kale salad for lunch and/or dinner, and the occasional "fantasy" meal of stuffed mushrooms or my latest favorite, ravioli made with beets and the most delicious "cheese" mixture of cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, scallions and parsley! But the ice creams and the chocolate puddings, the sorbets and the brownies, the tacos and the veggie curries....all those things have become my very "once a week" kind of things...of course, I DID eat a whole dehydrator full of onion bread (which I'm still experimenting with, too TeePee!) and kale chips. So easy to do!!! Thus, it's best for me not to make that stuff too often unless I'm planning on inviting guests over...who'll actually be thrilled to eat raw....and I don't know about you, but I'm still living in somewhat of a vacuum. Here's an interesting question: my grown kids, who still live at home, love all my raw food BUT they'll eat my stuff as an accompaniment to their steak and chicken and fish and then I feel like my hard work--and financial investment in my organic goods!--is being thrown out the window. Will anyone else admit to feeling miserly in this way? I mean, sometimes I feel like I wish they'd leave my stuff alone because it's all that I eat and yet they have their other stuff to choose from...of course, I should be thankful that at least some excellent nutrition is getting inside them, so I should stop complaining...:rolleyes:

Talk to y'all later...have I told you all lately how much I love you?:D

[mtmouse]

Hi Sim and TeePee!

Yes, Sim, I defiinitely feel that way. Luckily there's only one other in my house, and I'm usually happy to have him sharing my raw stuff. But I certainly won't let him cook with my yummy raw ingredients, LOL.

[TeePee]

Thanks sim, and mtmouse for the welcome.


Sooo, the zucchini bread came out great. But I just threw a VitaMix full of asparagus, avocado and almond milk down the garbage disposal....Tried to make cream of asparagus soup. It was on the menu at a cafe I went to Sat, (cooked of course, and I was drooling over it) so I was determined to come up with a raw version.. I wanted to add leeks, but they looked terrible at the market. Anyway, what I attempted tasted like crap, so down it went. Has anyone had success with a soup of this sort??? I love to make cooked soup and it is one raw thing I haven't quite gotten yet. My dinner took a different turn to a banana and a glass of almond milk. YUM!!


Having some colleagues over next week for a raw food lunch...They have sampled some of my stuff and gave it thumbs up. So we have a time slot in the day between conferences next week and they are coming to see the new pad and have some lunch. Any suggestions as what to make are welcomed!!! It would most likely need to be prepared day ahead. Thinking big salad with nice dressing, onion bread, cashew cheese. Maybe stuffed mushrooms?? Freezer fudge, or ice cream. hmmm

[carriegraf]

I know this isn't the right "post" for this subject, but i don't have access to start a new post... I am eating raw - I began in September due to stomach pains that i was having. I figured out it was due to food and since i had done the master cleanse once before, i knew about the raw food diet. So, i gave it a shot. No more pain! I can't say i've eaten 100% raw since that time, but it's been pretty close. I had a few chocolates at easter and after that i said that i was going to be 100% raw and i have been. So, the problem i'm having is this: I'll try to make this as short and simple as possible. I was on Lupron for Endometriosis - the meds made my body go through premature menopause at 19! Then, at 22, i was put on Paxil because i wasn't feeling like myself. I gained about 20 pounds in less than 6 months. I am on Birth Control continuously so that i don't get my period (because of the Endometriosis). I gained about 15 more pounds over the next few years. I am now just on birth control for the control of the endometriosis. Over the past 6 months, i've lost about 8 pounds. I eat all raw... grapefruit for breakfast, fruit as a snack, salad or wrap for lunch, fruit for snack, salad or wrap or "pasta" for dinner. I've reduced my intake of avacado's, nuts & seeds. I also did another master cleanse. I lost 8 pounds on that but gained it back immediately and also gained 2 more pounds. I don't know what on earth i am doing wrong here. I'm eating veggies and fruits and i'm drinking just water. So, how on earth can i be gaining weight? I know it's not water weight, trust me! I work out at the gym 2 days a week for 2 hours. I also do pilates or yoga at home almost every day. Plus, i bike, i walk with my son, i play outside with him, etc... there should be no reason for this weight gain. Can someone please help me out here??? Are there any foods that could be doing this to me (any fruits/veggies) or are there any that can aid in weight loss/speeding of metabolism? I know that my body is damaged from the Lupron and Paxil - even if the doctors completely disagree. But, how can i reverse this damage??? Please help!!!! Thank you!:confused:

[mtmouse]

If it's not water weight, maybe it's muscle weight!

Have you measured yourself? Do your clothes fit better? The scale isn't everything.

[Sim]

Having some colleagues over next week for a raw food lunch...They have sampled some of my stuff and gave it thumbs up. So we have a time slot in the day between conferences next week and they are coming to see the new pad and have some lunch. Any suggestions as what to make are welcomed!!! It would most likely need to be prepared day ahead. Thinking big salad with nice dressing, onion bread, cashew cheese. Maybe stuffed mushrooms?? Freezer fudge, or ice cream. hmmm

Aww, TeePee....tossed that soup down the drain???? ouch! All I can picture is George Washington, Ae Lincoln, and Alexander Hamilton flying out the door :mad: If it was too liquidy, you could have added some ground flax seeds and some whole ones, too, some sundried tomatoes and some Italian spices and dehydated the mess for crackers. Or maybe take the asparagus/avo mixture and add cocount oil and sea salt...I had a great avo-coco soup at Caravan of Dreams that was made with just those avo and coco....I say, when in doubt, thicken it up and dehydrate! It still might be awful, but at least you could have the satisfaction of giving it every chance before you have to cry about the money spent....Speaking of money spent, I just went to my local HFS and they wanted....drumroll....$5.29 for a small bunch of lacinato kale, $4.89 for a small head of regualr kale!!!! ROBBERY. The high cost of good health.

Speaking of good health, I'm posting this info here for you, my buddies because I love you....
went for my annual physical with an MD who is known as an"Alternative Medicine" advocate. He examined me and said my raw vegan diet was the best thing I could be doing for my health. took all the requisite blood tests as part of the physical, said he wouldn't be surprised if I had low thyroid function and/or anemia (I'm always cold) but NOT because of the raw diet!!! He politely cited my age and stage (52, sort of perimenopausal) and said he had no concerns about my current health BUT that because I am raw and vegan, my future health needs to be safeguarded with some supplementation. He feels that the raw vegan diet cannot give us everything we need. I asked him how our ancient ancestors managed on a raw diet, with "benefit" of cooked foods or meat...he said he feels our bodies were different, our environment was different and therefore our nutritional needs are different. He also said that ancient man didn't live to be 100. He had a point there. Anyway, I listened politely and decided there are a few things I do need to improve because I've noticed some deterioration in certain areas...like my rapidly worsening eyesight and memory. Could it just be coincidence and older age? Sure..but I liked the way he put it: 'You won't notice it for a long time, maybe a few years, but without some supplements, you will deplete the reserves you still have." Interesting stuff to think about. I'm not into supplements but I think I"m going in that direction.

Just thought I'd share with my best, closest, smartest friends. :D

[mtmouse]

Hey Sim,

I hear lots of belief systems there--on his part and on yours! Those may have some truth, and they may have no truth. But they can always be dealt with in other ways, especially when we become consciously aware of them.

Doesn't mean that supplements might not be a good thing--but if you don't want to go that road, then I'd suggest doing something to change your unconscious thought patterns. :)

[TeePee]

aaaahhhhh, it is sooo good to be back!!!:D

Today marks one week for me back on raw 100%!!! And I've got to tell you, especially if you are just starting out on this journey, it is AMAZING how quickly your body adjusts to eating all raw if you stick with it!! Last January, I began 100% raw following up my 6th or 7th?? master cleanse. I remained all raw thru about end of July. Thru some major life changes, I fell off and picked up a lot of weight. But more importantly, I felt really horrible. After being raw and off and back on, it is much clearer how the way I eat so directly correlates to the way I feel. So after a week back on totally and committed, I already require so much less food.

I have to agree with some of the "gurus" that being 100%, while being difficult at times, makes it soo much easier to "stick with it" thru the long haul. Don't get me wrong, driving home from work I was dying for some potato chips and didn't have the raw version. But I came home, laid on sofa for 10 minutes then got up and made a salad and some tomato soup. I had a square of zucchini bread with it. Simple, but I am full. And right now, the thought of a "conventional" potato chip makes me sick! But I also remember very, very, very cleary how one pretzel rod in June as a "stress reliever" at work turned into pasta, bread, locatelli cheese, mashed potatoes, more pasta...and a whole lot of other SAD food..almost overnight. I have heard one of the experts say that if you have that little bit, it is like leaving the door open for me. It is like an alcoholic saying they will just have one shot a day.

I know we all have to make our own choices on this journey and I recognize and fully appreciate that more raw is better than less raw, even if it is not 100%. This is just the only way if works for me personally. I am just an "all or nothing" type personality, in more than the area of eating. I recognize my limits and really wish I could have the "occasional" taste of something cooked, but it has not worked at all for me. Just my "two cents" for anyone that may be starting out, or coming back in!!!;)

[Sim]

Hey Sim,

I hear lots of belief systems there--on his part and on yours! Those may have some truth, and they may have no truth. But they can always be dealt with in other ways, especially when we become consciously aware of them.

Doesn't mean that supplements might not be a good thing--but if you don't want to go that road, then I'd suggest doing something to change your unconscious thought patterns. :)

Yup. I've thought of all that. I'm still thinkin'....thanks, though, Kath. That's why i shared with my smartest friend!

[Sim]

[QUOTE=TeePee;54943]aaaahhhhh, it is sooo good to be back!!!:D

....and it's so good to have you back!!!!!

Yes, the "all or nothing"....me too, Teeps! Although I don't believe anyone has to be 100% raw for optimal health, if it works best for someone, then go with it. It's interesting how many people, even the most famous of raw people, are not 100% raw or started out that way and have incorporated some cooked food but not junk into their lives. One raw chef, Joel Ohdner, told a story about how fed up he was when he was at raw gatherings and the first question people would ask each other was, "So, what percentage raw are you? Are you all raw?" He said it was the most ridiculous question, as if the higher percentage in your answer made you a better, more worthwhile person to talk to! So he formulated his answer to forever be: "Yes, I'm 100% raw...except when I'm not." I loved that. And I think there's a good message to be learned from it. And you should see how buff the guy is, too. :D

[rain]

Hi Girls!!
After only 5 days now on 100% raw, I have dropped 5 pounds of the million that I have put on since last July!! I am feeling great.

So, I have made a few batches of Matt's Onion Bread, such a great staple when transitioning back!! ANd right now I have an experiment in the DH. I know I mentioned months ago about trying to make it without the onion, for when I want something "plainer". So, it is in progress. I shredded zuchinni in the food processor and left out the nama shoyu. Kept in the sunflower and flax and oil. Added salt and onion powder. We shall see how it turns out. The only problem I forsee is that I should have added more liquid to make up for deleting the nama shoyu. It didn't seem to stick together as well when I was spreading it out. Hmm, should be done by this evening!:D

Hi Teepee! Wow, I don't know how you lose 5 pounds in 5 days of eating raw! Were you staying away from nuts and avocados? I've been raw for the past 4 months, and I don't lose weight on it. But I was eating liberal amounts of nuts and avocados. Anyway, I'm losing now that I'm on the MC. :D

Whenever I've made Matt's Onion Bread, it's turned out tough. I like the more tender, crumbly texture of a cracker that has some walnuts in it (like 1 c sun seeds, 1 c. almonds, 1 c. walnuts), or the cracker recipe AMA posted about one year(?) ago (with walnuts and flax in it). I'm wondering now if I'm doing something wrong when I make the onion bread. Does it turn out tough for you guys?

Having some colleagues over next week for a raw food lunch...They have sampled some of my stuff and gave it thumbs up. So we have a time slot in the day between conferences next week and they are coming to see the new pad and have some lunch. Any suggestions as what to make are welcomed!!! It would most likely need to be prepared day ahead. Thinking big salad with nice dressing, onion bread, cashew cheese. Maybe stuffed mushrooms?? Freezer fudge, or ice cream. hmmm

Mmm, yum! I imagine you've read the recipe for freezer fudge that Kathy loves? And Sim's latest decadent chocolate pudding with sorbet? I posted a recipe for chocolate pie that's similar to it, and read that it was a hit at some raw food potlucks (but haven't tried it myself yet).

[rain]

I know this isn't the right "post" for this subject, but i don't have access to start a new post... I am eating raw - I began in September due to stomach pains that i was having. I figured out it was due to food and since i had done the master cleanse once before, i knew about the raw food diet. So, i gave it a shot. No more pain! I can't say i've eaten 100% raw since that time, but it's been pretty close. I had a few chocolates at easter and after that i said that i was going to be 100% raw and i have been. So, the problem i'm having is this: I'll try to make this as short and simple as possible. I was on Lupron for Endometriosis - the meds made my body go through premature menopause at 19! Then, at 22, i was put on Paxil because i wasn't feeling like myself. I gained about 20 pounds in less than 6 months. I am on Birth Control continuously so that i don't get my period (because of the Endometriosis). I gained about 15 more pounds over the next few years. I am now just on birth control for the control of the endometriosis. Over the past 6 months, i've lost about 8 pounds. I eat all raw... grapefruit for breakfast, fruit as a snack, salad or wrap for lunch, fruit for snack, salad or wrap or "pasta" for dinner. I've reduced my intake of avacado's, nuts & seeds. I also did another master cleanse. I lost 8 pounds on that but gained it back immediately and also gained 2 more pounds. I don't know what on earth i am doing wrong here. I'm eating veggies and fruits and i'm drinking just water. So, how on earth can i be gaining weight? I know it's not water weight, trust me! I work out at the gym 2 days a week for 2 hours. I also do pilates or yoga at home almost every day. Plus, i bike, i walk with my son, i play outside with him, etc... there should be no reason for this weight gain. Can someone please help me out here??? Are there any foods that could be doing this to me (any fruits/veggies) or are there any that can aid in weight loss/speeding of metabolism? I know that my body is damaged from the Lupron and Paxil - even if the doctors completely disagree. But, how can i reverse this damage??? Please help!!!! Thank you!:confused:

I don't know if this would have any effect on your weight, but I'm guessing, from your description of your diet, that you might not be eating enough leafy greens (or not enough of a variety of them). Do you drink green smoothies? Have you read Victoria Boutenko's books (she has one that's just about green smoothies). Maybe your body is hanging on to the weight because it's not getting all the nutrients it needs.

I imagine you've had your thyroid function checked out? If I was you, I'd look for help from a professional who's "on board" with eating raw.

[rain]

Speaking of good health, I'm posting this info here for you, my buddies because I love you....
went for my annual physical with an MD who is known as an"Alternative Medicine" advocate. He examined me and said my raw vegan diet was the best thing I could be doing for my health. took all the requisite blood tests as part of the physical, said he wouldn't be surprised if I had low thyroid function and/or anemia (I'm always cold) but NOT because of the raw diet!!! He politely cited my age and stage (52, sort of perimenopausal) and said he had no concerns about my current health BUT that because I am raw and vegan, my future health needs to be safeguarded with some supplementation. He feels that the raw vegan diet cannot give us everything we need. I asked him how our ancient ancestors managed on a raw diet, with "benefit" of cooked foods or meat...he said he feels our bodies were different, our environment was different and therefore our nutritional needs are different. He also said that ancient man didn't live to be 100. He had a point there. Anyway, I listened politely and decided there are a few things I do need to improve because I've noticed some deterioration in certain areas...like my rapidly worsening eyesight and memory. Could it just be coincidence and older age? Sure..but I liked the way he put it: 'You won't notice it for a long time, maybe a few years, but without some supplements, you will deplete the reserves you still have." Interesting stuff to think about. I'm not into supplements but I think I"m going in that direction.

Just thought I'd share with my best, closest, smartest friends. :D

Thank you for this information, Sim. :)

I'm unclear about whether we've had enough time for our bodies to evolve into something different than what our raw ancestors were (I've read different opinions on this). It seems like a long time to us, but evolution is very slow.

Your doctor does have a point about our environment being different. Our bodies have so many toxic chemicals in them, many of which didn't exist one century ago. And what we eat (even the organic foods) is grown on depleted soils. And our fruits and veggies have been hybridized from what they originally were, losing nutrients and vitality in that process.

If I decided to take supplements, it would be ones similar to what are listed on the Juice Feasting site I keep talking about: raw, concentrated greens and algae are what I've read so far on the ingredient lists. I trust a medical professional who eats raw themselves (like Gabriel Cousens) more than one who doesn't. I've heard Gabriel Cousens recommends taking a vitamin B12 supplement. Maybe he also recommends others.

For now, I'm going to start eating weeds (once I can find and identify them!), try some E3Live (an algae) to see how it affects me, and look for a B12 supplement.

Did your doctor say anything specifically about which reserves are depleted by a raw food diet?

[petereggmann]

I consume about 40% raw food. I am in the middle of a fast right now, so all I consume right now are lemons.
However, what really helps me bridge the snack gaps is the Feast. It has such an incredible amount of live whole foods in it. Here is an ingrediant list:
30 Antioxidant Rich Fruits & Berrrries
Purple Grape*, Raspberry*, Noni Fruit, Mangosteen, Wolfberry-Goji, Acai Berry, Black Currant, Blackberry*, Blueberry*, Pomegranate, Bilberry, Whole Purple Grape, Elderberry, Cranberry, Strawberry*, Acerola Cherry, Pear, Orange, Watermelon*, Papaya, Banana, Lemon, Grapefruit, Peach, Prune, Cherry*, Plum*, Pineapple and Hawthorn Berry in a base of Apple.
30 Power Greens & Vegetabtabtables
Barley Grass juice powder*, Alfalfa Leaf juice powder*, Wheat Grass juice powder*, Carrot*, Oat Grass juice powder*, Dunaliella, Kelp, Spinach*, Sweet Potato*, Beet*, Dulse, Klamath Lake Algae*, Chlorella, Spirulina, Broccoli*, Kale, Tomato*, Squash, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Bell Pepper, Parsley, Cucumber, Brussels Sprout, Onion, Celery, Garlic, Cayenne, Asparagus and Ginger.
11 Nutrient Dense Seeds, Nuts & SproSproSproSprouts
Flax Seed, Oat Bran, Brown Rice Fiber Complex, Almond Seed*, Sunflower Seed, Wheat Sprout*, Quinoa Sprout*, Amaranth Sprout*, Pumpkin Seed, Chia Seed and Sesame Seed.
*Certified Organic
83+ Actctive Enzymes & Fulvic Mineraral Blend
Amylase, Cellulase, Protease, Lactase, Lipase, Maltase, Bromelain, Sucrase, Ionic Fulvic Mineral Extract Powder Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) Aloe Vera Leaf Extract and Yucca.
22 Resilient Living Probrobrobiototics
Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus sporogenes, Lactococcus lactis, Lactococcus cremoris, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus kefir, Leuconostoc cremoris, Lactobacillus caucasicus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus salivarius, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus brevis, Bifidobacterium infantis, Bifidobacterium lactis, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium breve and Streptococcus thermophilus.
Other Ingredients: Natural Mixed Berry flavor, Guar Gum and Stevia.
The feast supercrchargargarged also includes:
Supercharged Blend of 6 Berries, Seeds & Leaves - Guarana Seed Extract, Cha de Bugre (Cordia Salicifolia), Green Tea Extract, Green Coffee Bean Extract, Schizandra Berry Extract and DMAE.
No preservatives, fillers, excipients, additives, dairy, GMO or irradiation. All ingredients are certified organic and/or free of synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
www.iloveuri.com

[TeePee]

[QUOTE=rain;54968]Hi Teepee! Wow, I don't know how you lose 5 pounds in 5 days of eating raw! Were you staying away from nuts and avocados? I've been raw for the past 4 months, and I don't lose weight on it. But I was eating liberal amounts of nuts and avocados. Anyway, I'm losing now that I'm on the MC. :D

OKAY, I TRIED BUT I CAN'T DO THE "QUOTE" THING CORRECTLY!! SORRY!!:(:confused:


Hi Rain,

Actually, I've been eating a lot of nuts and avocados!! When I first went raw, the more avocado I ate the faster I lost weight. Victoria Boutenko discusses this in one her books, either Green for Life or 12 Steps to Raw. It held true for me. Actually, I gain and lose weight very easily. I had gained FORTY POUNDS since July. So, I can look at a piece of Italian bread and gain 3 pounds!! but at least it works both ways. And I have to confess, I haven't worked out in a long while.

Anyway, the onion bread usually comes out pretty good for me. I only use 2 onions, as opposed to Matt's recipe of three. Don't think that should make a difference though.

Just had "sushi' of nori with avocado, cucumbers, and red pepper cashew cheese. YUMMY!!! I have had that 3 nights since last week. Each time the amount of it I eat has gotten less!!

And I eat freezer fudge at least once a day!!

[rain]

Hi TeePee,

I can see why you like raw food. Eat more avocados (AND some freezer fudge??!) to lose weight?? Sounds heavenly to me! I've read parts of all of Victoria's books. I'll have to go back and read the other parts (I love how she writes!).

Mmmm, your sushi does sound yummy. I'll have to try that when I'm finished my cleanse! Thanks for the idea. :)

[TeePee]

Made taco tonight. walnut meat, guac and salsa rolled in romaine leaves. yum!!


made a version of ani phyo's cacao pudding last night at 9 pm. between myself, daughter and BF it is GONE!!

yes, that is more nuts and more avocados!!

experiment in the DH. Trying to make chive potato chips!! If they come out okay, i'll post it. Also have Cohen's stuffed mushrooms in the DH. busy girl tonight!!

ohhh, and this was awesome!! It is from Sarma's book, but not in a recipe, in a side note. You have to check those side notes, because there is a lot of great info there!! It tastes EXACTLY like a creamsicle!! Remember those frozen pops you could buy in the lunchroom??

Orange juice, or the whole orange blended with about equal parts almond milk. KILLER!! I added a bit of vanilla extract and agave nectar. Loved, loved it!! But I made if for BF and his friends were over, so I was just the server of wonderful drinks!! But it was loved by all. I think it would make an excellent cocktail, too, if one so desired to "jazz" it up a bit!!!:D

[mtmouse]

Oh, TeePee!

I JUST had the thought, before sitting down at the computer: "well, three days gone; I only have to do this 9 more times to get to 30". And then you give a CREAMSICLE recipe?

:D :p :D :p :D

[ninab64]

If I decided to take supplements, it would be ones similar to what are listed on the Juice Feasting site I keep talking about: raw, concentrated greens and algae are what I've read so far on the ingredient lists. I trust a medical professional who eats raw themselves (like Gabriel Cousens) more than one who doesn't. I've heard Gabriel Cousens recommends taking a vitamin B12 supplement. Maybe he also recommends others.

For now, I'm going to start eating weeds (once I can find and identify them!), try some E3Live (an algae) to see how it affects me, and look for a B12 supplement.

Did your doctor say anything specifically about which reserves are depleted by a raw food diet?

i'm on week 5 of my modified diet per a nutritionist's recommendations; i see no difference. on my own, i have also added MSM powder (taken in the am with lemon juice and warm water... it's bitter but better that way) and trying out spirulina and chlorella. boy, oh boy is spirulina difficult to get down. i am trying to mix it with things like chocolate, or lemon. might add a liberal amount of cayenne next time - LOL

i mean, my taste buds have come to enjoy bitters and greens, but this is like licking the bottom of a muddy pond! might look for some empty capsules to help avoid the awful taste... at any rate, i have seen nothing noticeable yet, over the past 3 weeks or so that i have added that to my supplements.

nutritionist has had me on a B6 supplement (i believe) and on a magnesium powder, and liquid zinc. again, things are the same. not sure how long it would take before one would start to notice a sense of well-being, good health, vitality, etc.

:)

[rain]

TeePee, I love reading about what you've prepared. Yumm indeed!! I'll definitely be giving this another read once I'm back to eating. The things you're preparing sound delicious and easy to put together; just how I want to do my raw food. And I looove creamsicles! Thank you for all the inspiration. :)

Oh, and I've wanted to say that it's also important to me to do as close to 100% raw as I can right now (the fudge factor for me is with things like the vanilla extract that I want to use up because it's the expensive, organic kind, and the dried fruit I eat that may have been dehydrated at too high a temperature, plus other things like that). I'm also an all-or-nothing kind of person. If I'm going to do this, I want to really do it, so I can assess the benefits and so I don't have to deal with that slippery slope of how much cooked food I'll eat. But that's where I am right now, and I haven't been craving cooked food. If I have an experience like you did, TeePee, of losing control after eating one little breadstick (or like Victoria Boutenko and her husband did of getting really sick from one cooked food meal), then I'd probably be firmer with myself. Although this seems similar to my past experiences with sugar: in my hope that I'd never eat it again, I found that sometimes I could be more "in control" and balanced about it by allowing myself to have a taste (and often finding out that all I wanted was that one taste).

I can also see your point, Sim, about the silliness of using one's diet to define one's worth by percentages. We're all different (and maybe also different at different times in our life).

LOL, Kathy! Is there any way you can "forget" what day you're on?

Nina, I just read yesterday that alot of women experience hair thinning when they go through menopause. I don't know if you're at that stage, but I am, and my hair (which was thin to begin with) has become noticeably thinner. But that doesn't address your digestive difficulties. And the hair loss might be one more thing that people eating SAD accept as an inevitable part of aging that wouldn't happen with adequate nutrition. I hope you find what your body needs (minus that muddy pond taste!).

[mtmouse]

Well, rain, the day I forget what day I'm on is the day TeePee better lock her refrigerator!

:D

[rain]

TeePee's place is sounding awfully attractive right now, isn't it Kathy? :D
I meant that forgetting the day you're on would be like forgetting you're fasting, and the time might go faster. That's how it works for me. But I didn't think about the possibility of totally forgetting, LOL!

[TeePee]

You are all too funny. I don't think I could handle being on MC and reading this post!!! I will probably start my next cleanse when school gets out for summer. We teachers can't just run out and leave the children alone when the SWF calls!!! Little easier to wait than to get up at 5 am to make sure it is "done" before jumping in the car!!

"dinner" tonight was my chive infused potato chips, one of the stuffed mushrooms and some freezer fudge. I think my absolute favorite all-time raw "comfort food" is a plain old glass of almond milk. Something in it is so clean and soothing!! And it fills you up when you just want a little something, but don't want a whole apple or banana. Thinks I may go fix some up right now!!!:rolleyes:;)

[Nance]

HI!!

I have been reading a bit of the thread to get back online with you guys, and this is a hoot! You know I wold hang out here after well into an MC . . . but wow recipes a flyin'! SO, Sim, TeePee, mtmouse, rain, carriegraf, and all it is great to be HERE~! How did those chive potato chips turn out?:D

I had a great 'landing' from the 30 day MC. Probiotics, and orange juice really hit the spot! :) My first salad was on the complex side, and was a little too many things to put in new tummy all at once:(, I even seemed to have some mild allergenic reactions. But that soon subsided, and off on my one month raw challenge! :p

Boy, does stuff taste great! I ordered the book Ani's Raw Food Kitchen to add to my budding collection of live food books. I doen't know how all y'all would rate these books, but this one is FANTASTIC! Where is this onion bread recipe . . . in the lemonhead recpe box?:)

I am using recipes from all 3 books so far. I have made several batches of Jennifer Cornbleet's Walnut Pate. This one I share with my not quite believing roommates, and they are impressed! I have been growing sprout for them right alone while I was on the MC, and they have been enjoying those . . . . alfalfa, mung, and salad mix.

This time around I collected some sea vegetables (nori sheets, nori ribbons, wakame, dulse, and hijiki) and they are great on salads. I am just getting around to some of the recipes that incorporate them.

One 'major' applicance that made it thorugh my recent culling of possessions was the (drum roll please) an Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator. :D Some body told me that simplicity is no knowing what you an do without, but knowing what you can't do without. I 'fired up' the Excalibur for my first time last week: Ani's black sesame sunflower seed 'bread' was the maiden recipe. Wow! The bread was OK, but when I let the batch go to cracker stage, WOW! I made a second batch with a few adjustments, and just put in Allisa Cohen's Sea Wafers, with dulse AND wakame and Herbmare seasoning. I marinated some soaked almonds in nama shoyu, and they are in the Excal now.

What has really struck me this time around is how satisying live food is. If we are eating to live, rather than living to eat, then WHY NOT our choices be live food! I am really in a new place with this stuff. Living food is so far from the American SAD, and I am a happy convert!

One of the several excellent anchoring shifts that have been made in my lifestyle is exercise. I moved to well within a mile of the local recreation center. They have a 25yd pool . Yipee! My goal is 10,000 yards / week, which is about 5.7 miles. There are some swim meets I would like to attend later this summer. I even have a shot at setting some state records in my 50 - 54 womens' age group! I was such a 'beached whale' before the fast . . . it was difficult justs rolling over in bed, I had lost so much core strength. This will be the real proof to me for raw and the protein question: I will let you know how I fare at the end of the month. I am averaging about 26.6 sec per lap, and want a race pace of 22.2 sec, which will look like a 23.5 - 24.2 in practice. So far I do not have a 'pod' to swim with, only curious Missouri onlookers who try this Arizona transplant by throwing noodles in her lap lane. 8)

Bless you all mightily!

[mtmouse]

Wow, Nance,

What a great story! I'm currently on day 6 of 30+, and I can't wait to get back here with y'all for real! :)

The onion bread recipe is somewhere around here. It comes from Matt Amsden's Rawvolution book. We haven't been very disciplined, so recipes are sprinkled in this thread, the After the Cleanse thread, and the Lemonhead Recipe Box thread. You can find it by searching to "onion bread", but since the search function looks for both words separately no matter how you enter them, you'll get a lot of hits to wade through. But it shouldn't take too long.

If you haven't already done so, I suggest you read through this thread from the beginning. It won't take as long as it seems, and there's a ton of useful stuff in here about books, gadgets, recipes, etc. Ani Phyo is right up there at the top of our list! (Along with Cohen, Cornbleet, Amsden, and others.)

In the weeks before my cleanse I also bought a lot of sea veggies. (I found the Salads section in Cohen's book, and it's inspired!) However, I promptly forgot I had them, so I only got to make her yam and hijiki salad (which was good--and a great way to eat raw yam--but needed tweaking). However, luckily the sea veggies are still there for me to look forward to. I'll be looking for you to share some great recipes!

Happy eating! :D

[TeePee]

Hi,

NANCE!! Welcome back!! You sound so inspired!! That is contagious you know!! I feel the same way. I have been back on raw now for about 11 days. I just weighed myself this morning and I am down 8.5 lbs already!! That actually comes with the time of the month when I usually am up 5 pounds!!

The two books that most people seem to recommend, I somehow missed in my at least 10 book collection. Those being Ani Phyo and Cornbleet. I am tempted to go drive to the nearest bookstore (about 45 min) away and pick those up today. Actually, I'm more tempted to get into my car and drive to NYC for a raw restaurant!! But that is more like 2+ hours. Hmmm, how to spend the day?

and the chive potato chips came out okay. I had blended chives (a whole pack) with olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt. Marinated the chips then dehydrated. Good flavor, but a little greasy still....:confused:

[mtmouse]

Well, everyone, I just made a batch of raw fudge for DH! Here I am on day 6 and that's what he wants? LOL! He claimed it came out great at least.

Actually, this cleanse so far as been a real breeze (mine are typically easy, but this seems even easier). Maybe because I'm planning for 30 days, these early days just seem to fly by. Food isn't registering (even the fudge, LOL) as food, and I'm totally satisfied with my lemonade and water. I haven't even had any mint tea.

Happy days all!

[rain]

Kathy, raw fudge? :eek: Your very favourite food?? You're strong!

[ninab64]

Nina, I just read yesterday that alot of women experience hair thinning when they go through menopause. I don't know if you're at that stage, but I am, and my hair (which was thin to begin with) has become noticeably thinner. But that doesn't address your digestive difficulties. And the hair loss might be one more thing that people eating SAD accept as an inevitable part of aging that wouldn't happen with adequate nutrition. I hope you find what your body needs (minus that muddy pond taste!).

thanks, rain. but i've been told that i am not in any form of menopause at this time.

had my followup visit today with the nutritionist. we're modifying things a bit, and a test she had me take shows my serotonin levels are low, so we are going to add some supplements and see how i respond to that. we're also going to try homeopathic remedies....

so, we shall see :)

[TeePee]

Hi all!

I have something in the DH that I hope will be yummy!! I am making Sarma's Cauliflower Samosas, but without cauliflower. Didn't have any and I don't particularly like it, but I did have zucchini to use. I also didn't have macadamia nuts for the filling, but I used cashews. Now, for the banana tamarind sauce and the mango chutney......

I have had her samosas at PURE FOOD AND WINE, and they are out of this world. (And not just out of the raw world...They are out of the cooked world too!!) I never made them because they seemed too good for me to be able to pull off and I don't usually have coconuts on hand for the wrappers. But I got some Sunday and opened one last night to drink the water because a I had a wicked migraine all day. So, then I wondered what I was going to do with the meat, besides freeze it or make pudding, so I started the wrappers last night. It came out great. Now, I have more wrapper "batter" in the DH along with the filling. I really hope it comes out with the zucchini instead of the cauliflower. I also used the peas. I think I am going to the market for the tamarind and a mango. I remember from the restaurant, that these really made the dish. Stayed tuned for how it all turned out!!!:confused:

[Nance]

Raw Fudge, eh? mtmouse, you seem to be in a pure detachment mode, and not even lick the spoon?? I am impressed . . .

Well, ladies I stepped on the scales and it seems to be less nuts and avacado time for Nance. They are not dcompletely out of the picture, I will dicipline myself to using them in recipes, instead of simply scooping avo with a littel nama shoyu right out of the shell and into my mouth, along with every once in a while a handful of nuts. My last MC was a 30 day wonderful time! Ahh the simplicity! Now it is time for me to stay in touch with y body and know why I am eating, especailly if I am not hungry. Now isn't that a tip off!:rolleyes:

ANYWAY, last Sunday afternoon I did make (after all the avos were gone from last week) Ani's cucumber orange dressing, Alissa's pizza bread and marinara, Cornbleet's walnut pate, a batch of marinated vidalia onion and parsley, dehydrated tamari almonds. That and salad greens and some zucchini should hold me through the work week.

I think I mentioned that I am on nights now. Our wonderful leaders are having a Dr. come in tonight to speak with us. Meeting is at 10:30 pm. He is going to share with us findings about people on a night schedule and details about diet, exercise, mental health and all the like. I am looking forward to it. Overall, the shift to the night schedule has been a very positive move for me.

mtmouse: thanks for the suggestion to read this entire thread . . . what a happy chore! I am up to #50, and will read bit by bit . . . it is kinda strange seeing stuff I saw before on this new format bulletin board. I almost forgot about it until I went back into the old stuff.

TeePee, you mentioned your 10 book collection. Which are your top 3 and why? Do you have on that majors on sprouts?

It is interesting how cynical but curious one of my friends is about my one month raw challenge. She get really happy and much less sarcastic when I feed her some of this wonderful stuff I am making. (I was stuck in such a rut making the same ol' thang, and this challenge is great! I am ' making myself' try at least 3 new recipes a week, only one of them has almost gone the way of the blender asperagus soup. It was the sea wafers, and I put wakame in with the dulse. Strange how flavors change in the DH. BUT, ya know what saved these tough little crackers from File 13? Almond butter&raisin filling. NOW that one I was not about to share with my almost believing friend. :p

I am enjoying all your company even when I am not posting!

It IS all about Love, Love, Love!

n.

[TeePee]

OH MY GOSH!!!!

Did I tell you I was making Samosas?!?!?!?!?!? Dare I say this? They were almost :eek:orgasmic:eek:!! I can't believe I have held off making these for a year because I was worried about screwing it up!! For anyone just starting out that is shying away from the more seemingly complex dishes, GO FOR IT!! They will satisfy your need for the exotic or special dishes. I had this dish twice in NYC and it is probably my favorite of all. I think the spice of the garam masala is what does it! Geez and I didn't have to drive to NYC and drop a ton of cash!

Also, I changed or modified quite a bit from her recipe, just out of need. I used zucchini in place of cauliflower, cashews instead of mac nuts. I also did what I could with the tamarind sauce. I used banana, maple syrup, nama shoyu, ginger and just some water from the soaked tamarind pods. Has anyone worked with those things?? Such a great flavor. But tricky little devils!! And the mango chutney I simplified to just mango, lime juice, jalapeno, salt, cilantro.

I know I'm rambling, but I just want to stress that I didn't think I could pull this off and I did and loved it! I wish I could send you all the taste thru this laptop!! I didn't really measure anything either. If you started early enough in the day, you can have it that night, as long as your coconut wraps dry. If you have the book, TRY IT!!

Okay, NANCE, that answers part of your question. RAW FOOD REAL WORLD, is for sure one of my favorites. Not only for that recipe, but for the ancetodal notes and tips she gives. Also for the cereals, chocolate pudding, drinks, etc. I really like the fact that you can order some of the dehydrated items on her website also, so when you make them yourself, you know if they "look right and taste right".

So, the other top two? Well I don't have Cornbleet or Phyo, but I'm sure if I did they would be on the top three. But I love, love, love Alissa Cohen and Matt Amsden too.

About sprouts, Im not sure what your asking, but I have to get better at sprouting. I have only done rye and wheatberries with much success.

[mtmouse]

Well, once again this thread threatens to bankrupt me!

I just ordered that book, TeePee! I guess I have to hope it doesn't get here too soon, LOL!

[Bogi]

Same here, Kathy! I have to stop buying books! Beside "Raw Food Real Life" I ordered "RawVolution", too.
Oh, and by the way in about a month Raw Food Real Life's author is coming out with her second cook book! That one will contain ice cream recipes. I regurarly buy their mint ice cream. It's sooo friggin' good! Yumm! Can't wait!

[mtmouse]

Oh man, Bogi! What are we doing in this thread anyway? LOL

I'd love some good ice cream recipes! But I'll let you buy the book and try them and tell us all about them first. :)

[Nance]

Tee Pee, thanks for the tip on your key raw food book. That one I do not have yet and it sounds like a must have! Now those Samosas . . . your enthusiasm did seep through the e-mail! I saw garam whatever it is spice at the local HFS the other day . . . now I know something to do with it... one of the last brave acts on my MC was to visit with friends while they were at an Indian Buffet Restaurant nameed Korma Sutra . . . (does that have anything to do with 'orgasmic' samosas? ;)

Another quick recipe I have been using I actually saw on YouTube, a gal, I think her name is Karen, she is a Brit . . . she has some nice food prep demo clips . . . she did marinated mushrooms. I have done that with mushrooms and a separate batch of onions. It seems I have trouble digesting fresh onions, but those marinated ones are yum. And Mushrooms? There must be something my body is getting from them, as I have eat 'em like I used to eat chocolate chip cookies :eek:

Oh, yes, that Dr. taling about night work was excellent. He did not say that much about nutrition, except to say that a lot of green leafy vegetables are good for the nutrients we need to do nights.
His main point was for those of us on nights to be consistent on when to go to bed and when to get up and get more than six but no more than 8 hours a night of sleep. I found that interesting. He said studies have shown that people who consistently are out of those parameters tend to have a shorter life span, day or night people. Huh.

Oh, I have a small eggplant and it is time for me to do a recipe with it. Any suggestions?:)

OK to work I go.

[mtmouse]

Nance,

What's the marinade for your mushrooms and onions? Sounds good.

Cohen has an excellent Crunchy Thai Salad that uses marinated eggplant. It's the best thing I've made so far with raw eggplant. It's got a fairly lengthy ingredient list or I'd give it to you. But if you have that book, look it up. (One thing about her book--and most others, but not all--is that she doesn't index by ingredient. So that raw eggplant use was sitting in front of me for a long time before I noticed it!) If you don't have the book, let me know and when I have time I'll write it out for you.

It calls for slicing the eggplant with a peeler so it's like bacon slices. However, I julienned it instead.

Enjoy!

[Nance]

;)Wellllll, I sliced a buncha mushrooms. Then I doused them with nama shoyu (this is all by intuitive feel ;) ) then on goes the virgin olive oil: that is what they really soak u and it makes 'em like sauteed. THEN plenty of raw garlic and minced or dried onion. I also put in a dash and a half of italian seasoning. I did the same thing with some Vidalia onion and parsley. These 'sides' make a nice garnish for all the other wonderful stuff I am discovering. I did the mushrooms marinade and the onion marinade separete from each other.

Wow, I never have measure them out . . . next time I do some, I will measure it out. 8)

Time for bed, I m getting punchie. :o

Ya know, fresh basil :p would be great with those mushrooms.

Thanks for the tip on Alissa's eggplant in the Thai salad. Oh that all looks great . . . :p but I just finished the weeks shopping and the next two days I rest in solitude and get a lot of back work done and tahdah start the garden.

mtmouse - I bless your MC!! Here you are telling me about Alissa!
bogi! - Have a prosperous cleanse!
I loved hanging out with the raw folk here on my MC . . . well after I got a little ways in.

Ah, a couple days at home! My kittie enjoys it, too!:)

[mtmouse]

You don't have tomeasure anything for me, Nance! I never measure anything anyway, even if I do have a recipe. :D But I love the idea of marinating the onions, because straight raw onions (even when I dehydrate them on, say, pizza) are almost too much for me and definitely too much for DH.

And I agree, basil on the mushrooms sounds fabulous.

[Bogi]

Oh man, Bogi! What are we doing in this thread anyway? LOL

I'd love some good ice cream recipes! But I'll let you buy the book and try them and tell us all about them first. :)

I already tried the ice cream from Sarna's store (One Lucky Duck) It's heavenly. They told me in the store about the new book coming out with the recipes. So far all I know you'll need an ice cream maker to prepare it. I'm sooo gonna buy one! And you can count on me, I'll share the recipe here! ;)

[mtmouse]

Oh, I already have an ice cream maker, all right! No problem there! I'm the gadget queen of the universe, and that thing (countertop style) has served me well in the past. Now I'm looking forward to using it again!

But first things first, of course. Today is day 10 of 30(+). :D:D

[Nance]

Hmmm, how do I do quotes on this new system?

[Nance]

Hmmm, how do I do quotes on this new system?

Hmmm, I think I just figured it out!
:)

[mtmouse]

:) Good for you!

Don't know which method you used, but there's a "quote" button at the lower right of every post.

You can also manually highlight and copy, then use the little quote icon (at the lower right of the two lines of icons above the posting window) just like any other format change.

[TeePee]

Hi Girls!

Raw foods went over well with my colleagues!! Been very, very busy with work, preparing the food, cleaning the house. I'm a bit of a perfectionist!! :(

I'll be back tomorrow. Just checking in, but exhausted!!

[Nance]

Hi Girls!

Raw foods went over well with my colleagues!! Been very, very busy with work, preparing the food, cleaning the house. I'm a bit of a perfectionist!! :(

I'll be back tomorrow. Just checking in, but exhausted!!

Good to hear! It is interesting what objections that are posed to me concerning raw . . . until they taste the real thing! I made some marinara last night that was somewhat intoxicating! The LIFE in that stuff in incredible! This stuff is SO good!

[TeePee]

It's even better when they not only taste it, but WATCH you make it and see how quick and easy it is!!!:p

[rain]

Except for chocolate pudding and green smoothies (oh yeah, and nut pates!), I have yet to find the quick and easy part of raw food prep (but I've only been doing it for four months)! I seem to not have a good sense of tastes, proportions, etc. and have to use recipes (but then usually change them even the first time i use them). Teepee, I'd love to watch you uncook! :p

I had some zucchini pasta at a raw food potluck last month that tasted amazing. But I couldn't get the recipe unless I bought her spirooli (and didn't know if that was the implement I wanted to use to make "pasta" from veggies). Do you guys know a really good recipe for tomato pasta sauce and/or other things to put on pasta? I still have to read some of the threads on this board from the beginning and I can do a search, but I don't want to read too many pages here right now because I'm in the middle of a long cleanse. But I love this forum and this thread...can't keep myself away completely! :D

[mtmouse]

Cohen's marinara is my favorite. I've made Cornbleet's too, but I always end up putting a date in it to make it taste more like Cohen's! I think I've tried a few others too, but I keep coming back to that one.

And I don't have a spirooli (which I think makes thicker noodles). I have a Joyce Chen spiralizer (~$25) that makes angel hair. I do love it.

But then Sim's recipe for the mushroom stroganoff called for zucchini noodles made just by slicing with a vegetable peeler, more like lasagna noodles or fettucini, and Cohen's Thai salad did the same thing with marinated eggplant. So that's certainly an easy substitute if you don't have a spiralizer.

I find that eating raw does make me want more varied textures, so I do love all the gadgets.The velvety dressings in the VM to crunchy angel hair (or wafer) beets make all the difference in satisfaction for me.

[rain]

Kathy, is the marinara sauce you posted here last year as part of Cohen's pizza recipe the same one you use for pasta? (I've just been reading about raw pizza...yummm! :eek:) It does look sooo quick and easy. I'm thinking, "is that really all that's in it??"

Cohen's uncook book is the only good one that's not at my local city library. And it's pricey. But I keep hearing about all the great recipes it contains. Sigh...I think I may have to order it. Okay, I admit I am lucky to have access to all the other ones for free! :p Will have to eventually get some kind of spiralizer/spirooli, too. And gotta try that crunchy angel hair sometime... But Sim's broad noodles work great for me for now.

Okay, I think it's time for me to leave this part of the forum! It's probably time to do that yoga I've been avoiding. See ya on "the other side"!

[mtmouse]

Rain,

Yes, I use that for anything that calls for marinara sauce.

When I put it on my zucchini angel hair noodles, sometimes I warm it in the dehydrator first, but sometimes I just eat it cold. That took a bit of mental gymnastics on my part first, but it worked. I kept thinking, this is just tomatoes and zucchini (and whatever else), I'd like it fine in a salad, so why not this way? As long as I didn't think of it as "spaghetti", I was fine with it chilled. :) And I even served it cold once to a guest who said she didn't care--and she loved it!

[Avokado]

Hi everyone! I am on day 4... going well so far with no cravings and feeling really good. I'm trying to give myself lots of time to prepare for what I'm going to do after I finish the cleanse. I am very interested in the One Month Raw Challenge. So how does it work? Will there be recipes posted somewhere etc.? I have a blender right now, but going out to buy a juicer this week... is the Jack Lallanne one any good? Also, I don't have a food processor, so I was wondering if the Bullet would work just as well as a food processor.
Thanks for your help!!!
Laura

[mtmouse]

Avokado,

My suggestion is always that you start reading this thread from the beginning. It seems daunting, but you'll find answers to questions you didn't even know you had! Plus lots of discussion about the challenge itself, gadgets, recipes, and all sorts of stuff. And of course, it will help us not have to repeat what's already here. :) You can skip over stuff that isn't important.

[Avokado]

I will read the thread from the beginning. May I just the opinion of somebody that may own a Jack Lallane juicer... is it a decent juicer or not worth buying and if anyone owns one of those Bullets... would it suffice as a food processor, if not, then I will go out and buy an actual food processor?

[mtmouse]

Don't know about that juicer, and I don't think we've discussed it. I'm against juicers, myself, except as an add-on to other much more useful devices.

We might have discussed the Bullet. You could do a search of the thread before you read it all to see.

[rain]

Rain,

Yes, I use that for anything that calls for marinara sauce.

When I put it on my zucchini angel hair noodles, sometimes I warm it in the dehydrator first, but sometimes I just eat it cold. That took a bit of mental gymnastics on my part first, but it worked. I kept thinking, this is just tomatoes and zucchini (and whatever else), I'd like it fine in a salad, so why not this way? As long as I didn't think of it as "spaghetti", I was fine with it chilled. :) And I even served it cold once to a guest who said she didn't care--and she loved it!

Thank you, Kathy. :) I look forward to making it next month and adding it to my file of quick and easy recipes! The zughetti i had at that potluck also had chopped olives in it, I think. It didn't even register for me that it wasn't heated. It was just so yummy! It's amazing that something so good (and that seems just like pasta) is made from nothing but veggies! I'm going to see if I can get the recipe from someone who bought a spirooli (since the woman who sells them is moving away, maybe she won't mind). Will post it here if I manage to do that (if it's different than Cohen's).

[TeePee]

Rain,

The fast part will come!! It's only been just over a year for me, with some parts of that year not included. but, it gets easier!! Especially smoothies. I don't measure anything anymore!!

[rain]

Wow, Teepee, you're a perfectionist and you don't measure anything? That means there's hope for me! I look forward to spending less time in the kitchen but still having tastier, more nourishing food than I ever had when i cooked. :)

I do love how different raw food preparation is from cooking. I can imagine a kid doing it. It does make sense that measuring isn't as crucial (at least in many of the recipes). And I do already throw my smoothies together without measuring.

[Nance]

AVOKADO
Welcome aboard! Good going with Day 4!
*****************************************************************************************************

Wow, sometimes I do not know how far I have come until I see the contrast. i got some heavy contrast yesterday . . . my friends had a passover meal, (I did not attend the festivity), but the lady of the house made some hummus, and ask me to try it. I had a fair bit of it on mohtsa (sp?) while fine tunig the flavor with her.

Meanwhile, I had a killer batch of Eggplant 'Parmesian' going on in the dehydrator. That was by far the most rich raw dish I have made so far. Then . . . my digestive tract just up and quit on me: rotten egg burps and then similar effect of the SWF, without the salt water. The hummus was not raw . .. but it also felt like a mild food poisoning. :confused::eek::confused::eek:

OK, now I know . . . I am cutting back to simple combinations, probiotic, and alot more water!

On the exercise side, things are going very well. I am swimming 5 - 7 mi / week. In practice, I hit a good time for my re-developing backstroke. There is a meet in Iowa in June I hope to make it to.

[TeePee]

Tried a new twist on the tacos. I used Matt's taco meat with Sarma's mango chutney. Rolled up in romaine leaves. YUMMY!! Quick and painless too!!

Hope everyone is well!!

[Nance]

Tried a new twist on the tacos. I used Matt's taco meat with Sarma's mango chutney. Rolled up in romaine leaves. YUMMY!! Quick and painless too!!

Hope everyone is well!!

Sounds yum . . . Oh, my, Matt's book might be my next one. If I may ask, how it the weight coming along . . . I am having a tough time dropping any weight on the raw . . . I can tell my body is adjusting. I was 168 at the end of the March MC, and now I am hovering around 172.8)

[mtmouse]

I know Sim has said she loses during her cleanses and then maintains on raw, but doesn't lose more. That's been my experience, too. After a cleanse I lose a little more during the transition, then gain 3-5 pounds back, and then stay there if I continue with raw, until the next cleanse, when I drop it down a bit lower.

[TeePee]

If I may ask, how it the weight coming along . . . I am having a tough time dropping any weight on the raw . . . I can tell my body is adjusting. I was 168 at the end of the March MC, and now I am hovering around 172 quote


I'm still losing. Started back 100% on April 2. I have lost about 12 lbs so far...

[TeePee]

oh, I had a nice dinner!! New creation!!! I love to play with this food!!

Again I made a cross breed from the different books! Sarma's coconut wrappers stuffed with chopped spinach and creamy dill - garlic cheese . Kinda like a Greek spinach pie. ONLY BETTER!!!

after my co-workers came over for lunch, they have been making almond milk, coconut pudding and creamy raw dressings!! So cool!!
:)

[mtmouse]

On man, that sounds good, TeePee!

DH's dinner is smelling spectacular right now. I can only imagine how delicious yours was!

[Sim]

Hi Everyone!!!!!
It's me, Sim, in California, at Living light....and my oh my, I wish you were all here with me!!!!!
What a group we would make!! Notice all my exclamations? That's how I'm feeling. This is the most significant and amazing experience I have ever had. I love it here so much I may never go home!!

Seriously, ladies....this is the place to be, the place to come, the place to grow and learn. Sure, I know all the basics but watching pros do it and being with others who are as excited about raw as we are is just the best experience ever. FUNdamentals and Basic Essentials are just that..but they are followed by the Associate Chef Cert class and then three recipe development courses...I have no time to myself because we are in class literally all day. We have labs, lectures, practical sessions, lunch...tonight we saw the movies The Future of Food...terrifying, all about Monsanto and the fact that they've bought all the seeds of all the crops and have patents on everything. Oh, tis a thing of beauty to be here with people who speak the same language!

I can't stay and talk much right now and I"m having trouble even getting the time to get online to check in on the boards..but I wanted to say hi and tell you all that this is definitely the place to be. Cherie Soria and Dan Ladermann and all the staff are excellent and have I got some delicious new recipes...and I'm still in the Essentials course! Five weeks from now I expect to know so much more...which I will share with you all :D

And I've learned something very important: even though we all make flax crackers, pizza crust, green smoothies, soups, and brownies, there IS a difference in all the recipes...above all, remember to add a lot of love so everything will taste better!
Love you all, Sim

[mtmouse]

Ah Sim,

How wonderful to hear from you. And what a wonderful message you bring! I can't wait to hear all about it and get all those recipes! (Of course, on day 17, the cat food is looking good, LOL.)

[Nance]

Sim, This is wonderful . . . . 5 weeks later you say? What is this raw retreat, lab, discovery, sabbatical thing you are in? Is there a website we can peek into? Keep us posted when you can!


mtmouse yeah I know about that cat food!

TeeeP, is that coconut pudding recipe somewhere handy?

I just hit a big o' emotional pothole in the road, and oh the food addictions are kicking up. I am standing strong, other than eating way too manay bananas today:p . . . potassium search I s'pose.
I am grateful to be plugged into this BB to keep my accountability up for this April 1 month Raw Food Challenge :D. Friday I celebrate a friend's birthday, we are going out to eat i know not where. After my canned chickpea hummus experience I am going to be very cautious.

Wow I am thankful for you guys, keep on keepin on lemonheads!

Nance

Nance

[Bogi]

Of course, on day 17, the cat food is looking good, LOL.

Speaking about cat food, Kathy, this morning I almost licked off of my finger after feeding my kitten!!! :eek: lol

Sim, that sounds wonderful! I wish I were there!

[Nance]

Speaking about cat food, Kathy, this morning I almost licked off of my finger after feeding my kitten!!! :eek: lol

Sim, that sounds wonderful! I wish I were there!

Just a note of encouragement! I just finished MC31 in March! I'mm cheering you on to the big 40

[Bogi]

Just a note of encouragement! I just finished MC31 in March! I'mm cheering you on to the big 40

Thank you Nance! I'm doing really well, I don't have any doubt that I pull it off! I think I'll specialize myself for long range fasting! :)

Sim,

I've just checked their website! This is fabulous!!! Wow! You go all the way up in 5 weeks?

[Bogi]

Sim, This is wonderful . . . . 5 weeks later you say? What is this raw retreat, lab, discovery, sabbatical thing you are in? Is there a website we can peek into? Keep us posted when you can!


Nance,

I've found the website! www.rawfoodchef.com Check it out, it's (r)awesome!

[Sim]

C'mon everybody....I'm telling you, this is the place all of you should be!
Today we had to create recipes for salad dressings and soups...the trick is that you have to work in a group of 5 people and you all have to agree on the ingredients! It's a hoot...and nervewracking to be judged.
It's fabulous. Then we all taste each other's creations and we have to rate them. Then we eat our own creations. Awesome.
I have an exam tomorrow and so I have to go now and study.
Love you all! Come to Ft. Bragg, CA....it's cold but it's gorgeous!

[mtmouse]

Oh Sim,

I can't wait for you to get back, because I want you to "raw" a recipe for me!

I made DH a Braised Tuscan Kale with Roasted Garbanzo Beans recipe that I found in a magazine. I haven't tasted it, of course, but he says it's great and it smells better than anything I've made in a long while! I definitely want to figure out a way to approximate it without cooking everything to death! (I figured I'd substitute pine nuts for the beans, but it's got baked garlic and all, and I need help!)

So come home soon!

:)

[Nance]

C'mon everybody....I'm telling you, this is the place all of you should be!
Today we had to create recipes for salad dressings and soups...the trick is that you have to work in a group of 5 people and you all have to agree on the ingredients! It's a hoot...and nervewracking to be judged.
It's fabulous. Then we all taste each other's creations and we have to rate them. Then we eat our own creations. Awesome.
I have an exam tomorrow and so I have to go now and study.
Love you all! Come to Ft. Bragg, CA....it's cold but it's gorgeous!

Oh YES! I just got onto the website, it is professional, informational, and beautiful! Sim, I know you are focused on the curriculum there, but what a treat to hear from you in the midst of this amazing journey you are on!

Love to you,
Nance

[rain]

TeePee: I'm so enjoying reading about your creative, simple meals. I'll be trying them out for sure when this cleanse is over!

Sim: It's so great to hear from you! What you're doing sounds amazing... I want to thank you for being one of the people on this forum who inspired me to do a 40-day cleanse. (I remember what you said about 10 days not doing much for you compared to 40 days, among other things.) I'm doing it right now: 24 days done so far!

Kathy, Nance, and Bogi: I'm envious of you guys who have cats. I love them, and I'm allergic to them (they give me asthma). I'm hoping that, at some point, cleansing and eating raw will alleviate the allergy enough that I'll be able to get one of those hairless Cornish Rex cats. I'd be in heaven, then!.

I got a great idea while I was organizing my gardening stuff and setting up fluorescent lights in the basement a few days ago. I intended the lights to be just for the spring veggies I'll be later moving outside. But now that I have them set up, I'm going to grow greens down there all winter! It won't be alot, but even some fresh-picked greens are better than only store-bought. I've felt much more sustained by the smoothies I've made that had some fresh-picked greens in them.

[Greeky518]

Hello,

My mother, sister and I have just finished our first 10 day master cleanse and we are feeling great! We are all planning on eating much more raw food and giving up meat and most dairy. As a result, my sister (who is going all raw) wants a Vita mix blender for her birthday which is coming up. I couldn't find any locally, but have been looking online and they seem quite expensive. I was wondering if anyone on here could suggest the best place to get one and save some green!

Thanks a bunch,

Lee

[mtmouse]

Hi Lee,

Congratulations on three successful cleanses! :)

The very best place to get a Vita-Mix is directly from the company itself, http://vitamix.com.

You can buy reconditioned ones usually for about $350, with the full 7-year warranty. And if you ask for free shipping, they'll give it to you! (You might have to insist a bit.) I do suggest going for the variable-speed models.

They are well worth every penny!

[Bogi]

Hello,

My mother, sister and I have just finished our first 10 day master cleanse and we are feeling great! We are all planning on eating much more raw food and giving up meat and most dairy. As a result, my sister (who is going all raw) wants a Vita mix blender for her birthday which is coming up. I couldn't find any locally, but have been looking online and they seem quite expensive. I was wondering if anyone on here could suggest the best place to get one and save some green!

Thanks a bunch,

Lee

Lee,

Unfortunately VitaMix is pretty expensive, but really worth it! You can't even compare it to a regular one. Go to their website ( www.vitamix.com ), or call them. I recommend to buy a refurbished one. These are the ones what they used on shows. They totally look brand new, lots of parts changed to new, come in factory box with 7 years guaranty, yet cheaper. I also recommend to choose the slightly more expensive one which comes with 2 different container, one for wet things, the other for dry (it's for grinding grains, some recipe call for it). You can also go to eBay and try to bid on an older version, but they usually used ones.
And if it really out of your budget, make a deal with your sis and split the price. I used to do that all the time when I wanted something more expensive for my b-day! ;)
I wish someone would had help me to buy all the appliences I needed for being raw. I spent a very painful $900 last year. But all worth it! Btw, does your sis has a dehydrator yet? It's much cheaper than the blender? :)
Good luck!

[Res]

Morning :)

Peter has put an amazing package together and I'm not certain he's offering it in the online store yet but I've had a chance to take a look at it and it's a THUMBS UP!

Sorry I haven't been here much, you're all in incredibly capable hands. Work has consumed me for now.

Anyway, it was SO MUCH FUN a while back going all raw with Kathy (mtmouse) and experimenting while hacking and slashing our way through the unknown. However the raw package will take the guesswork out of it all and I don't exactly know how to explain this, but as soon as I opened the box and took out the books there was an odd "coming home" feeling to it. Ann Wigmore was amazing and a real raw pioneer. Many of the recipes and authors you'll recognize. I suppose the feeling was "trust" when thumbing through and reading excerpts. Anyone starting out and interested in a Raw Food lifestyle should check it out. This is for everyone, not just those planning to go 100% raw. Anytime you incorporate raw food into your daily diets you're doing yourself a favor.

Love to all,
~Res

[Hayley71]

This isn't really related to the other messages on this thread but I thought that most of the people here would be seasoned cleansers and may be able to help me.
I'm on day 10 of my first cleanse and I feel FANTASTIC as I'm sure you all know. I ordered two bottles of the syrup but didn't understand that I only had enough for 6 drinks a day in each bottle so consequently I started on my second bottle yesterday. I really want to continue to 20 days and perhaps even further but cannot afford the shipping costs to order more maple syrup from America. Does anyone know of an outlet for the grade B Organic Maple syrup in South Korea?

[Nance]

Morning :)

Peter has put an amazing package together and I'm not certain he's offering it in the online store yet but I've had a chance to take a look at it and it's a THUMBS UP!

Sorry I haven't been here much, you're all in incredibly capable hands. Work has consumed me for now. . . .

Love to all,
~Res

Res,
I did read the MC Bulletin that came out and Peter mentioned this new package and your assistance with it! Yeah, Res! Thank you for ALL you do to on this BB! I forget about all the behind the scenes stuff, but there you, and the moderators giving vigilence, wisdom, and momentum to the boards. Thank you!!

Nance:)

[Nance]

I am nearing the completion of my April One Month Raw Food Challenge! I have found some things out about the Raw Food Lifestyle:

It is like learning a new language - to me feels very childlike and simple, but I think that is a GOOD THING!
Having the right tools for the right job makes it a lot more fun
The raw food myths that even my health conscious friends spoke have all vapoized


AND . . . have found some things out about myself

I love raw 'cook'books, but I do not like to follow recipes. Dehydrators are not ovens, foods act differently there.
As I say "Yes" to live foods and YES to LIFE - mental, emotional, and physical patterns of death come to the surface to be skimmed away.
When (not if) I want to default to cooked food, especially bread, and to stimulants, like black tea or coffee, because om the past it was the way I 'quick fixed', medicated a hidden imbalance, or rather denied an emerging balance. Now I am empowered to recognize it for what it is, and have the power to choose.
I STILL don't drink enough water, and I know that what I do that it another powerful key to living well!


I can say I have been about 98% raw this month. A friend asked me what I am going to do after this month, like it was some kind of cruel and unusual experiment I subjected myself to. I communicated that I ate more fresh fruit and vegetables in one month than I have for YEARS, and I have no intention of changing. I feel some subtle, but radical changes in my body and thinking. I think that I will hold my heart gently if I do have a bite of chemical free baked or steamed item, but be mindful of the seductively addictive nature of that stuff. I hope to stay 90%+ raw, and continue to discover new preparation methods. I do have questions about hormone imbalance, menopause, and food combining. and . . . I need to discover ways to accept the invitation to drink MORE WATER! As I came off the MC onto the raw food, I did notice being more in touch with a sense of thirst, I do not want to brush that aside!

So, the month of May . . . I look forward to incorporating more fasting into each week, 2 days a week. Not an MC, I won't call it that, but I may incorporate some elements of the MC in. After 3 months, I do want to do another good 10-21 day MC, Lord willing.

OK that was a report of sorts. :rolleyes:

[mtmouse]

[QUOTE=Hayley71;55812]This isn't really related to the other messages on this thread but I thought that most of the people here would be seasoned cleansers and may be able to help me.
I'm on day 10 of my first cleanse and I feel FANTASTIC as I'm sure you all know. I ordered two bottles of the syrup but didn't understand that I only had enough for 6 drinks a day in each bottle so consequently I started on my second bottle yesterday. I really want to continue to 20 days and perhaps even further but cannot afford the shipping costs to order more maple syrup from America. Does anyone know of an outlet for the grade B Organic Maple syrup in South Korea?[/QUOTE

Don't know about your part of the world, but you can substitute pure cane syrup for the MS. Also molasses (preferably blackstrap). Can you get either of those? Burroughs also says you can use sorghum, but says it is much less beneficial than the other sweeteners.

Good luck!

[TeePee]

Hi girls,

Been so busy!! Trying to find more time to post.

SIM'S adventure sounds awesome!!! Wish we were all there!!!

[rain]

Hi Teepee,

It's great to find you here! That would be so much fun to have all of us in Sim's class! Wanna go crash her party? :D

These past few days, I've been thinking about both your and Sm's wonderful food adventures. Maybe my not having eaten for this entire month has something to do with that, LOL!

A piece of banana flax cracker fell out from the sheets I pulled out of my washing machine yesterday, and my first impulse was to eat it. :rolleyes:

But i do feel really good right now...

[Hayley71]

Thanks mtmouse for your reply about buying maple syrup in Korea.

I have actually decided just to make another order and to justify it I have also ordered many books on going raw after I've finished this challenge as it seems like the perfect thing to do. I suppose I'm not spending anything on groceries this month so it'll even out!

I've halved my syrup intake each day in the hope that what I've got will last until the supplies from America arrive. The lemonade doesn't tase quite as yummy but needs must!

Thanks again

[AminahMalikAli]

I'm in. I just finished the cleanse and feel quilty about eating real food again. I really feel funny after a meal. By the way how often can I do the master cleanse? I would like to do it once a month for only 10 days. Is that excessive?

[mtmouse]

A 10-day cleanse should be done only 3-4 times a year. Once a month would be excessive.

Use the time in between to practice better eating habits and learn to nurture yourself!

:)

[Eurodod]

Wow! It is so great to hear about people enjoying the RAW way of life. I plan on adopting the lifestyle as well, but incorporating it slowly. I am reading the book 'Raw Food Detox' and it totally makes sense! The only concern I have is the expense with eating the healthy foods. :( Does anyone have any tips on keeping the costs down? And menu planning? Do you do a week in advance? How often do you shop? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks :D

[mtmouse]

Well, my friends, I have a happy announcement to make.

Today I saw 148 on the scale, and that's a 100-pound milestone for me! I thought I'd share just a bit about that journey (especially for you impatient ones!). I was at 248 pounds 11 years ago next month. I was 51 years old at the time and just entering menopause.

I had tried a bunch of diets on the way up to 248, and obviously none had worked. :D I then did find a plan which I could follow relatively easily. It was quite restrictive (though not in amounts) and I stayed on it WITHOUT EXCEPTION for 5-1/2 years. In the first 3 years I got down to 168 and all was rosy. Then I spent two years without losing even an ounce. Then I spent 6 months gaining back to 187 (remember, I didn't cheat even once in that 5-1/2 years!). It was clear to me that it wasn't going to work any more and I needed something else.

At that point I discovered EFT (see my sig line) and began working on the emotional issues behind my overeating/overweight. I also decided I was never going to follow a restrictive plan again. I found the MC and began doing a few cleanses a year, and then I began to incorporate a lot more raw food (sometimes 100%, but usually something short of that). I think there were a couple cleanses at the beginning where I gained back all of what I lost, but pretty much each cleanse I've had a net loss which I could then maintain with my mostly raw diet and continued focus with EFT. And I love that eating raw isn't at all restrictive--I can eat what I want and I certainly never feel deprived.

So you women can throw out your beliefs that you have to gain weight during menopause! I'm doing much better at 62 than at 51 or even 41! And this time I know without a doubt that I won't be ballooning up again.

Another thing: I suspect that 100 pounds in 11 years sounds excruciatingly slow to almost everyone. And it is! I'm sure if I'd discovered EFT and raw food earlier, the process would have been faster. However, one thing I can say is that despite that 100-pound loss, I have no sagging or loose skin anywhere! I have no double chin any more, and also no turkey wattles in its place. :) My skin has apparently been able to adapt and shrink because the loss has been slow enough that my body could adapt. So there's a silver lining to slow weight loss! No surgery needed.

Another thing: I didn't get my Tanita scale until several years into this process, and I didn't really exercise much at the beginning, but by extrapolating the numbers that I see now, I can say that out of the 100 pounds lost, at most 10-15 pounds of it was lean body weight (bone/muscle, etc.) and 85-90 pounds of it was fat. I'm thrilled about that and intend to keep my muscle mass intact as I continue down to my goal range of 135-140 pounds.

This is day 25 of 30, so I won't get there just yet, but I know it's within my reach! And I know how to be patient! :)

Happy raw eating to all! :)

[rain]

Wow, Kathy, I'm so happy for you! :) That's such a feel-good story to read. And what confirmation of the raw food diet (even being able to eat as much as you want of it). You must be feeling really good right now!

And that's very good news about the loose/sagging skin. With my weight loss of the past 1 1/2 years (a fraction of yours), I've been looking at mine a bit suspiciously. It doesn't seem very loose, but I'm now reassured that any slack will firm up over time. Eating raw must help alot with that.

It's time for a celebration! Yay, Kathy! :D :D :D

[mtmouse]

Day 26. Today I counted the limes in my fridge, hoping I wouldn't have enough to get me through next Wednesday. Unfortunately, there were plenty, LOL! :p

[Bogi]

Awwwww, Kathy, you almost made me cry! Congratulation and big hugs, you are an amazing woman! I'm very happy for you!

[Bogi]

And reading you next post , Kathy, you made me laugh! Is it you, or the cleanse puts me on an emotional roller caster? :D

[mtmouse]

Both, I'm sure! :D:D:D:D

I can tell you, I'm certainly on a roller-coaster! My emotions aren't flipping around, but my desire to continue cleasing sure is! Man, this seems long.

Of course, you're not exactly the one to whine to here, are you? :) :) Big congrats to you for how far you've gone already!

[Bogi]

Last night I went to buy some more lemons and syrup to an organic store I've discovered lately. I made a huge mistake going there hungry!!!
Browsing the store I smelled something amazing...Turned out they have a new "raw corner" with a juie bar.... but not just juices, also raw sandwiches!!! (my biggest weakness) I was salivating over those luscious goodies! I almost quit the cleanse right there on the spot!
Well, instead I looked around in the store and bought a "few" stuff for after the cleanse (yeah, just a reminder, I still have 2 more weeks to go!) Spices, nama shoyu, raw garbanzo beans (I have a killer hummus recipe), and grains for kamut and rye breads. The damage: 100 bucks, and a painful back after carrying home the grocery bag! :D
Well, I should had listen to the old advice: Never go food shopping hungry!

[mtmouse]

Oh my goodness, Bogi!

That's dangerous!

:)

[TeePee]

CONGRATULATIONS KATHY!!!! That is quite a milestone!!!

This journey is just that, for me, a journey. Even though you took the eleven years, the experiences and knowledge gained is priceless!!

YOU ROCK!! Keep it up!!

[ninab64]

Kathy, that is GREAT NEWS! congratulations!!!

[mtmouse]

Thanks, everyone! Feels great to me, too!

And official weight this morning: 146.5. :)

Course, I'm getting close enough to the end now that some of this will come back on again. But I'm not complaining!

[mtmouse]

Hee-hee, I think I jumped the gun a little bit this morning.

I had planned to start a batch of red dragon crackers in a couple of days, to have when I'm back to food next week. Then today I remembered macadamia nut cheese and decided that would be the perfect thing to have on them! Thinking the cheese takes 3-4 days, I thought I'd start it today.

But after I'd gotten the nuts into the VM, I looked at the recipe and see that it only takes a day or two! Although, I like mine more tart, so I usually let it go longer than they suggest. Oh well, it'll keep in the fridge.:)

I guess I'm beginning to think about food again, LOL. I'm already planning the first "real food" I'm going to have: the sushi rolls from Raw Food Real World that use jicama and pine nuts as the "rice". I used to love Ani Phyo's almond ginger nori rolls, but lately they've tasted so heavy and sticky that I haven't enjoyed them. I'm looking forward to a lighter "rice" for the fillings.

I'd better have another lemonade! Gotta get through today (to say nothing of my transition period) before any of this will be allowed! :eek:

[rain]

Yum to those sushi rolls, Kathy!! You just got me to go to my library account and activate the hold I've had on Raw Food Real World (as well as on Ani Phyo's book) for some time, now. I've been wanting to eat zucchini noodles with marinara sauce (with mushrooms) as one of my first "real" foods. Now those sushi rolls sound just as good! And both of them are only veggies!

I'm very suggestible about food. Now I want to try out those red dragon crackers and macademia nut cheese, too. Oh boy... I think I'll make the crackers, because I want to have some on hand when I want something more than veggies and fruits (which might be sooner than I expect). The recipes do look good. But I don't like alot of heat, so will adjust. Thank you for the inspiration. :)

Earlier, I was also considering making myself a cooked soup (as lightly cooked as possible) as a one-time treat because that's one thing I miss being able to eat hot and would love to have coming off the cleanse. Since I've been having MS every day and it's not raw, it seems it wouldn't be a big thing to make a cooked soup just once, especially since I'm new to raw and still haven't found many of my fav recipes. I'll see How I feel about it tomorrow.

Ahh, it's great to be talking about food again. After my last MC, I was wishing I could be back with the cleansers. But now I've had my fill. I have to admit that, right now, I don't know if i ever want to do the MC again, lol. But I imagine that will change, at some point.

But hey, you've still got today to finish. Don't let me talk you down. I got too drained and hungry, but still loved the high, and wanted to savor that on my last day of the cleanse. :)

[mtmouse]

That's okay, rain! I take responsibility for being in this thread before I'm supposed to!

I'm definitely not off the MC, but I'm pretty sure I won't do such a long cleanse again. I'm happy for all the benefits, but from here on in I think I'll stick with shorter ones.

I love my crackers hot, hot, hot! :) I also make them with one-third lime juice and I often add sprouted buckwheat, because that gives an added crunch. However, sometimes I leave it out because I don't want the grains. But if you don't like heat, then you might prefer the rosemary crackers. They're great (just don't put in as much rosemary as it calls for--I usually just do a Tbsp or so, not a quarter cup!).

It's funny, even on this last day, and even with all this talk--and action--about food, I'm still not desperate to eat! I think this is absolutely the first cleanse where I've experienced that. It's almost like, "who is this?" LOL

[rain]

Wow, Kathy, do you ever like things HOT!! :eek: I just looked more closely at how you adjusted the Red Pepper Dragon Chip recipe from what Sim posted (which she said was already fiery hot). Dragon crackers, indeed (I love the name!)! I'm going to make a trial batch with all the hot things much reduced from even Sim's recipe, because I do like chili and don't mind a tiny bit of heat (baby dragon crackers). And I might try adding a few other things (like cilantro?). The savoury crepes I was drooling over a few weeks ago were made mainly of buckwheat, and they smelled so good! So I'll definitely include the sprouted buckwheat. It will be interesting to see how that changes the texture of a cracker (as compared to nut-based crackers, which are the only kind i've made so far). Hmmm...I could also find a raw version of those savory crepes (later!). They were stuffed with cheese, greens, and some other things that I forget but will write down next time I walk by that trailer.

I did try the rosemary crackers in the past and they weren't my favourite, but I don't remember why. I'm pretty sure I changed the recipe, though. I'm going to try it again (a small, trial batch) and follow the recipe as it is (hopefully, I can do that!).

I know what you mean about not being desperate to eat (but enjoying seeing and talking about food). I was like that in the earlier part of my cleanse. It was like I found where the "wanting to eat" switch was and turned it off. It's such a relief!

Now where will I find time to make crackers? I think I'll be spending some very late (and happy) nights in the kitchen, so I can hopefully garden during the day! When I first started using my dehydrator (last December), I was so excited and intrigued that i 'd stay up all night making numerous things.

[rain]

Kathy,

Welcome back to food (well, OJ!)! :)

As I've sat here looking up recipes, the night has gone by and the sun has come up! Doing a recipe search on this forum isn't quick for me. I get lost in reading the threads...so funny and entertaining. I'm looking forward to having the time to read it all in order, from the beginning. And now I have questions...

Which macadamia nut cheese recipe do you use? It looks like it might be this one (the last post on the page)?:

http://therawfoodsite.com/forum/showthread.php?p=34331&highlight=macadamia+cheese#post34331

And what do you make of the caution in that same post (starting with the words "Habib's Raw Nut Cheese") about brazil nuts, macadamias and pine nuts having a bitter taste when you culture them? I guess that doesn't happen for you...

I just found another interesting mac nut cheese recipe that uses probiotic powder and sounds really good:

http://goneraw.com/recipes/1358-Real-Cream-Cheese

I want to try your butternut squash hummus with the dragon crackers (a little bit hot and sweet...sounds great!), but can only find a recipe for zucchini hummus (and a reference to it being in Cornbleet's book). Other than substituting the butternut squash for the zucchini, do you do anything else differently?

I feel like just making whatever you're making, lol. It's gotta be good if it's your first post-cleanse food (except I'll definitely pass on the HOT!).

I also came across a mention of Ani Phyo's sun-dried tomato no-bean hummus. That would be yummy on the rosemary crackers!

Speaking of you probably not wanting to do a long cleanse again, I feel the same way. I've been intrigued by the 92-day global juice feast that's happening. Some people say they have so much energy it's overwhelming. Have you heard of Angela Stokes? She lost 160 pounds by eating raw. And then, a bit more than a year ago, she did a 92-day juice feast. Here's a video of her breaking her juice feast (she looks so clear and radiant):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HESWMoMNcRw

[mtmouse]

Hi rain,

Never saw that recipe PB posted!

The one I use is exactly like the one with the probiotic powder, except it doesn't use probiotic powder. :) Just mac nuts and water and time in a warm place. And it tastes fabulous!

Never heard of the other things you mention. But just as I wouldn't want to do 30 days of MC again, I sure wouldn't want to do 92 days of juice! (I presume that's what that's about.) I like to chew and I already feel clear and light, LOL.

I'll have to get back to you on the butternut squash hummus. It's been a while and I can't remember. But I suspect I just substituted. BTW, it worked better with frozen organic squash chunks than with fresh, if I recall. Better texture and milder flavor more like hummus than squash. I'll try to look up my recipe and see what I did. But I may not have time until the weekend and then I might forget, so remind me if I drop the ball. :)

I dreamed I had a huge meal and then realized "but I haven't had any OJ yet! I wonder if I still need any?" :D:D:D

But I'm still on a really even keel (of course, I haven't yet had that first sip of OJ, and that could turn those tables!) and still interested in thinking about food but not really interested in eating it. Such an odd thing for me!

[rain]

LOL to your dream, Kathy! I love that dream logic.

I have to confess that, yesterday afternoon, I started eating fruit instead of drinking juice (including a total of 4 bananas, which were verrry satisfying). I kept trying to remember to at least chew really well. My guts have been occasionally moaning and groaning back awake since then. But it doesn't feel as bad as the senna tea. I'm weathering it okay.

No need for you to rush with the butternut squash hummus recipe. I've already got other recipes to try. With there being tahini in that recipe, I wouldn't consider making it for at least a week, and it could well be longer than that before I get to it (I had originally planned to stay with just fruits and veggies for quite awhile). Thank you for looking when you can...and I could just try substituting the squash for the zucchini, and thank you for the tip about freezing the squash. :)

Have fun with that OJ, and congratulations on your 30 day cleanse! It sounds like you're ending in a good space. After doing some yoga yesterday, I felt sooo good in my body...calm and fluid, very sweet.

[Bogi]

Oh ladies, (Kathy and Rain), you make me huhgry! lol
Pasta with marinara sauce sounds really good as first real food (let's say maybe on Sunday afternoon). I use Alissa's recipe, very easy!
I love crackers, but I don't know any really good ones yet. I tried a few flax seed crackers, but I'm not keen about whole flax seeds, don't like they sliminess. It's a different story if they grounded or at least mixed with grains or other grounded seeds.This hot dragon stuff sounds intriguing to me (especially if it really comes out crispy) and so do the rosemary crackers. Are they similar to One Lucky Duck's rosemary crackers by any chance? (I try to find the recipe of their cheese crackers, too. I know both is almond based)
Can you guys send me a link to your cracker's recipe?

[mtmouse]

Bogi,

No time for searching right now, but if you do an advanced search for posts by mtmouse and key word dragon, you should find my recipe. Mine make a terrific substitute for lime and chili Doritos! :D

And I never use whole flax, no matter what the recipe calls for. I always whip up the flax with whatever liquid in the recipe in the Vita-Mix, stopping as soon as it thickens, and then go on from there.

And to get crispy, just dehydrate longer! (Although adding the buckwheat to the dragon crackers does help with crispy, too.)

[rain]

Bogi,

I found Kathy's red dragon lime-chili cracker recipe (and the original, only somewhat less intimidatingly fiery Red Pepper Dragon Chips recipe that Sim posted) by using the search button at the top of any page on this forum. (I'd post the link, but I don't have it up anymore.) I've never heard of the One Lucky Duck's rosemary or cheese crackers, so can't compare. But I'm interested in seeing them (can't have too many cracker recipes, LOL!)

Mmmm...I'm just remembering that I used to like eating corn chips dipped in applesauce. Looks like I've found something new to dip into that applesauce!

There's also some blander crackers that I like (it's easy to add flavour, if you want more), like banana flax crackers. They're crunchy. I blend them till the flax is ground, and then I add hand-chopped walnuts for texture. I also like Everybody's Favorite Crackers (from the Boutenko family). They're crumbly (like some SAD crackers), which I like. I posted both of those recipes on this thread earlier this year. And there's another crumbly recipe I like that's called Just Like Ritz Crackers that I got from another site (I think Alissa's forum at http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/index.php, or possibly the goneraw.com site). The same recipe was posted here (I think by AMA), but with a different name. I think the ingredients include walnuts, flax, and zucchini. Let me know if you can't find any of those.

I'm glad your vote is for Alissa's marinara sauce. I've found the recipe here (I'll add mushrooms), and will probably be eating it this Saturday. I'm sure looking forward to that!

[mtmouse]

Cohen's marinara is my fave, too. But I'm absolutely not interested in it as a "first food", LOL! Guess I must have had my fill at other times. :)

I like the idea of "ritz" crackers. I wonder if they actually do simulate a regular Ritz cracker? If anyone tries them, I'd like to know how they turn out!

And now for my first sip of OJ ...

[rain]

Kathy, you still haven't had any OJ?? I'm impressed!

Thanks for the added vote for Cohen's marinara. I've only had zugghetti once so far, so it's still special to me!

I'll post that Just Like Ritz Crackers later today (gotta make my food shopping list now! :D ). I've made them and like them.

[mtmouse]

Just had some now, rain! Had the first sip straight, then watered down the rest and chugged a glass, LOL.

I have a long morning routine so never eat breakfast until at least 10:00. Today I got derailed by a snafu at the bank and so I was running later than usual. But now I'm on board! Still just enjoying the OJ and feeling no particular desire for any real food. This is so unlike me I can hardly believe it, LOL.

And my official weight this morning: 144.5! So it's still dropping, which is great. I always like to get as low as possible so the inevitable 3-5 pounds that comes back on still ends up with me in a good place. I'm just feeling great all around this morning!

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/dance007.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org)

[Bogi]

Thank you Kathy and Rain, I found the red dragon, both version. No time to search for the rosemary ones, but that isn't that important anyway, I'll come up with soemthing myself I guess.
Really hungry here, time to go and get some OJ.
Btw, I've lost and other half pound on the first day of juice. Isn't life great? :D

[mtmouse]

I just realized: I went a whole 30 days without a bathroom accident! I think that's a first among my cleanses, LOL.

But I almost marred my perfect record today. Since of course I'm now done with the SWF (yay!), I wasn't expecting any "movement" until at least tomorrow or the next day. However, I forgot that I decided to have one last glass of tea last night! I didn't have to go this morning and it just slipped my mind.

So while out on errands today, I was quite surprised to realize I was going to have to get somewhere fast! Luckily I was able to make it to my next stop, which conveniently had a bathroom close by. Whew! I don't expect to have to deal with that stuff when I'm not cleansing, LOL.

[mtmouse]

Oh my goodness!

My first quart today was watered-down OJ. I had to toss so much pulp! :(

But then my second quart I added grapefruit juice, and I watered it down much less. Yum, was that good! I normally don't like grapefruit juice that much, but mixed (about 1:3) with the OJ (and after 30 days of lemonade, LOL), it's divine.

And, still thinking about my nori rolls, I made some pickled ginger today! I used Sim's wonderful recipe. However, I made it quick and dirty! :D Since I got my Vita-Mix, I no longer peel ginger, just wash it well and remove any dry or discolored parts. And when I last did the pickled ginger, I tried to shave it like the sushi ginger, but it wouldn't work right. So I painstakingly cut it into tiny julienne strips (part with the mandoline, but part had to be done by hand).

So this time I decided I'd just do a pickled ginger paste, that I could simply spread onto my nori rolls. So I modified the recipe to get the beet-raisin water, then threw everything into the VM. Since the original recipe calls for the ginger to sit in the pickling water, it was really liquidy, so I strained it until it was quite pasty and put that into a jar. I took one little taste and it's already terrific! (You're supposed to wait four days for it.)

And my mac nut cheese is ready too! (If only I were, LOL.) Again, one little lick of that and I pronounced it done and put it in the fridge. It's pretty mild and should be marvelous on my red dragon crackers.

Ah, so near and yet so far! LOL.

[Bogi]

I'm starving. Like seriously. I made thru the day very well with orange juice. After gym I went to my new fave organic store where I bought some more oranges and raw, naturallly fermented dill pickles (cucumber)! I haven't had any since I'm raw (10 mo) and I've been craving it for days! (No, Im not pregnant) I got home, and I had to eat one. It's been 4 hours and it doesn't bother my stomach. But now I'm soooo hungry I can't sleep! I think I have to eat one more.
Tomorrow I try to drink more orang juice. I'm afraid to gain back the weight what I lost, so I try not to eat yet, although I think my stomach is ready.
Oh, pickles...
Never heard of pickled ginger.

[mtmouse]

Bogi,

Ever eaten Japanese food or sushi? They almost always serve pickled ginger with it. Yum! :)

I'm glad I haven't been grabbed with great hunger yet. Yesterday I started off my day with watered-down OJ, then later went to almost-full-strength OJ and grapefruit juice. Then later I added some watermelon juice.

At that point the watermelon looked so good that I also had a tiny sliver of it straight. Well, my stomach immediately began gurgling and I started burping, so that was enough to let me put it back in the fridge and hold off for a while. But man, did I want it! Not from hunger, but just because I love watermelon and it tasted so good!

But are you eating enough? In one day I went through 6 pounds of oranges, 3 grapefruits, and a big piece off the end of the watermelon. And my weight is still dropping. Don't let fear of gaining cause you to starve yourself, because that will backfire very quickly!

:)

[Bogi]

Oh, Kathy, I drink tremendous amount of orange juice (straight)! Yesterday I drank at least 60 oz, then 10 oz cucumber/celery juice. It's not that I was hungry when I had the first pickle, it was just craving! Eating that one small piece of solid food turned my apetite back I think, because a few hours later I was really hungry. But eating and other half pickle was enough. My stomach was absolutely fine, no grumbling, no discomfort and no more hunger. I wanted to buy some watermelon yesterday for dinner, but they asked 20 bucks for a valley ball size organic melon! (I could eat it with one sitting)
I sqeezed about 40 oz juice this morning, I already done with the half of it (it's not even 11 am). I'm getting tired of it though, but it's the 3rd day, so I can pull it off. Do you think it's ok if I try to eat a salad for dinner? Or should I just go with a some raw veggie soup kind of thing? I need to have something salty, it was enough of the fruits!

I don't like sushi, maybe that's why I don't know about pickled ginger. Even nori sheet tastes to "fishy" for me! :)

[Bogi]

I found the ritz cracker recipe:
http://rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=19073&highlight=ritz+crackers
It call for hemp seeds, too, I don't remeber ever seeing it any health food store. I think I just use flax seeds instead.
Hungry again. Ineed some solid food :)

[mtmouse]

Thanks, Bogi! Those look great. (Of course, they should be dried in little rounds!)

I just found hemp seed at my health food store yesterday. I had to ask for it, because I didn't know what I was looking for, but they did have it.

[mtmouse]

Bogi,

As for the salad, I suspect you'll be fine. I'd try to keep it small, though, to see how you react. If you can get away with it, that should work!

I once ate a big bowl of cooked rice with butter on day 3 after a cleanse (a shorter one, of course). But I paid dearly for that! I'm so happy not to be having cravings this time around.